THE BEAUTY WE CARRY II by Faith Gbadero
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Oil & Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 30 x 40 in
Year: 2026
Price: $2750.00 USD
Status: available
This piece from my body of works titled “The Beauty we carry” asks a simple question: What if becoming never required us to leave ourselves behind? For me, growth should never come at the cost of identity. This series celebrates Black people who embrace who they are while continuing to evolve. Our skin, our hair, our values, our identies, our cultural heritages and our stories are not things to outgrow, they are part of what shapes us.
Why collect this work?
The portrait’s frontal structure is unsettled by a sidelong gaze, turning composure into alert self-possession rather than passive display.
- Gbadero describes the series as considering growth without abandoning Black identity. In this painting, emphatic hair, dress and adornment support that intention, while the figure’s diverted attention resists becoming a simple emblem of it.
- As reproduced here, the figure occupies most of the canvas against layered mountain silhouettes. Flowers rise from both lower edges, but the off-centre eyes redirect attention beyond the balanced arrangement and toward something outside the frame.
- The catalogued oil and acrylic on canvas allow broad, flattened landscape shapes to sit beside graduated modelling of the face and arms. Repeated circles across the dress and hanging earrings establish a measured visual beat.
- Placed within discussions of contemporary portraiture, this work can sharpen consideration of how pattern and symbolic setting frame identity while a subject’s withheld gaze preserves autonomy from the viewer.
About the Artist
Faith Gbadero
Faith Gbadero is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Ogbomoso, NG.
Nationality: Nigerian
My art is driven by a desire to understand and express the human experience through layered narratives of identity, connection, memory, and becoming.
