Lines We No Longer Cut "Modern Dialogue" by Iyanuoluwa Babalola
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 12 x 18 in
Year: 2026
Price: $350.00 USD
Status: available
This piece concludes the Fourth-Part visual exploration of Oyo and Fiditi tribal heritage, tracing a journey from ancestral origins to contemporary identity. Unlike the earlier works in the series, this portrait I intentionally removes the physical tribal markings, presenting identity without incision while preserving cultural presence through symbolism and narrative. This piece reflects a generational shift in which tribal markings have largely disappeared due to modernization, religious influence, and evolving social values. Rather than portraying loss, the piece proposes continuity suggesting that identity now survives through memory, storytelling, and collective consciousness. Lines We No Longer Cut invites viewers to reconsider how belonging is defined in a globalized world, where heritage persists not on the skin, but within awareness and cultural dialogue.
Why collect this work?
A tightly cropped profile makes the unmarked cheek the painting’s central field, using saturated non-naturalistic colour and concentrated sideward orientation to frame identity as present without facial inscription.
- Babalola describes this portrait as the conclusion to a four-part study of Oyo and Fiditi heritage. The stated removal of tribal markings signals an intended generational shift, though the painting leaves continuity open rather than visually defining it.
- In the photograph, closed eyes and a face turned toward the edge limit reciprocal contact. Dark hair fills much of the composition, while the enlarged pear earring interrupts the predominantly blue figure as a vivid accent without carrying an explained cultural meaning.
- The catalogue identifies acrylic on canvas. Here, the medium permits opaque blue modelling, sharp highlights, and strongly separated colour zones, giving the face volume while refusing naturalistic flesh tones.
- Within contemporary portraiture, the work focuses attention on what remains legible when a documented form of inherited identification is absent. Its interest lies in the tension between a culturally specific premise and an image that withholds fixed signs of affiliation.
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.
