Fading Marks of Belonging "Disappearing Culture" by Iyanuoluwa Babalola
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 12 x 18 in
Year: 2026
Price: $350.00 USD
Status: available
This work continues my exploration of Oyo and my town "Fiditi" tribal heritage, shifting from spirituality and ancestral memory toward the theme of Disappearing Culture. Fading Marks of Belonging explores the quiet disappearance of cultural identity through the lens of Oyo and Fiditi heritage. In creating this piece, I intentionally softened the Abàjà marks, allowing them to fade gently into the skin a painterly decision reflecting how traditions gradually disappear rather than vanish at once. Hyperrealistic textures, subdued tones, and a calm side profile create a sense of stillness and reflection, while the banana earring symbolizes Fiditi, known as the “Home of Fruits” anchoring the portrait to place and cultural origin. Beyond aesthetics, the work speaks to cultural transition. With modernization, Christianity, Western medicine, and evolving beauty ideals, tribal marking has largely faded from contemporary life. What once signified identity, protection, and belonging now survives mostly in memory and in the faces of older generations. The faint marks become a metaphor for knowledge, rituals, and meanings slowly slipping from everyday consciousness. This portrait invites viewers to reflect on their own experiences of changing the traditions and stories time quietly reshapes or leaves behind. Even when visible symbols fade, the question of belonging remains, reminding us that culture is not only what we inherit, but what we choose to remember and carry forward.
Why collect this work?
This tightly cropped profile sets nearly effaced facial lines against emphatic braids and a fruit-shaped earring, framing cultural belonging as something unevenly visible rather than simply lost.
- Babalola identifies the lines as Abàjà marks and the banana earring as a reference to Fiditi, called the “Home of Fruits” in the artist’s account. That intention anchors the portrait in Oyo and Fiditi heritage.
- The closed eye and lowered face establish composure, while the braided mass presses against the upper edge. Yellow fruit forms hang beside the subdued cheek lines, shifting attention between bodily inscription and ornament.
- The documented acrylic on canvas supports broad, opaque areas and fine tonal modelling here. Strong contrasts distinguish face, clothing and background, while the three parallel cheek marks remain deliberately restrained.
- The painting merits encounter as a study of how portraiture can distribute cultural meaning across hairstyle, adornment and facial marking. Their unequal emphasis raises a precise question: which signs remain legible when customs change?
About the Artist
Iyanuoluwa Babalola
Iyanuoluwa Babalola is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: Painting/ Acrylic and on Canvas. Based in Lagos, NG.
Nationality: Nigerian
My art explores healing, identity, cultural memory, and moral consciousness through expressive painting and visual storytelling.
