Àkànbí “Born With Purpose” by Iyanuoluwa Babalola
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 41 x 51 cm
Year: 2026
Price: $500.00 USD
Status: available
Àkànbí is inspired by my personal connection to my Oríkì My late grandmother never called me by any other name than my Oríkì, and perhaps that is why Àkànbí feels less like a name and more like a calling. I created this work as a reflection on the power of names, identity, and destiny, using my blue tonal-breaking technique to layer inherited memory, lived experience, and becoming; Àkànbí represents a child born with purpose, a reminder that our names can carry stories, assignments, and identities that speak to who we are and who we are becoming, inviting us to reflect on the names, memories, and meanings that have shaped our own journeys. Let me ask you, What does your name carry, and what does it call you to become?
Why collect this work?
A compressed turn of the body and an enlarged, rounded hairstyle make identity legible through silhouette as strongly as through facial likeness.
- Babalola states that Àkànbí connects to his Oríkì, the name used by his late grandmother, and means a child born with purpose. That account frames the portrait as a meditation on inherited identity rather than proof of a fixed destiny.
- In the photograph, the shoulders angle away while the face looks back. Layered blues divide the figure into angular planes against a sparse beige ground, while the expansive hair gives the upper body a striking visual counterweight.
- The documented oil-on-canvas medium can support both dense dark passages and differentiated colour. Here, the photographed surface shows deep navy beside cobalt and turquoise, separating facial features, neck and shoulder without naturalistic skin colour.
- Placed among portraits concerned with naming or kinship, this painting can sharpen a specific question: how might a likeness hold an identity received through family while leaving room for continued self-formation?
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.
