Tinko Tinko by Deolu Femi
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Paper
Dimensions: 36 x 48 in
Year: 2025
Price: $1700.00 USD
Status: available
This series is inspired by the traditional childhood games many Nigerians grew up with, games that are fading today. Tinko Tinko, Ten Ten, Suwe and others weren’t just play; they taught us friendship, confidence, and how to belong. These artworks revisit those memories to show how these simple games shaped our identity and connected us to our community. I want viewers to feel nostalgia, warmth, and the joy of shared childhood moments, and to remember the cultural value hidden in the games we once played.
Why collect this work?
Four hands meet at different heights between two facing children, turning the empty central field into an active measure of timing, coordination, and mutual attention.
- Femi describes paper layering as a way to reconstruct memory. Here, that approach supports his stated return to Nigerian childhood games without treating recollection as a literal record.
- The photograph shows near-symmetrical figures distinguished by their dresses and hand positions. Their lowered gazes concentrate attention on a sequence that can be inferred as play, while the suspended gestures leave its next beat unresolved.
- Catalogued as mixed media on paper, the work uses outlined, overlapping shapes to separate faces, clothing, and limbs. Layering may give the silhouettes physical relief, although its depth cannot be confirmed from the photograph alone.
- Made in 2025 and titled after Tinko Tinko, the work preserves a hand game as embodied knowledge: belonging appears not as a symbol, but as rhythm learned between two people.
About the Artist
Deolu Femi
Deolu Femi is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: mixed-media (paper layering and paper quilling). Based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Nationality: Nigerian
My work is a reflection on memory, daily activities, experiences and the ways our experiences shape who we are.
