The Garden I Became by Olamilekan Okunade
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 42 x 48 in
Year: 2026
Price: $4700.00 USD
Status: available
For so long, I believed that love and acceptance came from how much I chased people or sought their validation. Growing up was tough, and being single-handedly raised, I was afraid my situation would define me. I begged to be seen and constantly proved myself to people who never truly saw or cared about me. At some point, I began feeling less of myself. I became angry whenever I saw friends and family with both parents, even reopening my mother’s old wounds because, in my mind, it was her fault. I failed to understand that she was never the reason for my pain. Little did I know that I was chasing an illusion of who I wanted people to see while neglecting the person I was meant to become. Recently, I found myself among the same people I had spent years performing for. At a popular garden, I watched butterflies buzzing and dancing around a particular flower, and a thought suddenly struck me: If you had been that flower all along, you would have found peace. Instead of chasing butterflies, why not simply plant a garden filled with flowers? This piece is a metaphor for that journey. The colourful female portrait represents how much of myself I had given away, while the garden symbolizes my potential and originality after I stopped chasing and performing for the wrong audience. The golden butterflies represent everything I thought would complete me, love, affection, family, and belonging, which were finally drawn to the beautiful garden I had cultivated. This work is a reminder to me, and to every woman who has tiptoed, chased, and walked on a double-edged sword just to feel seen and accepted: plant a garden, and your butterflies will come, irrespective of where you are.
Why collect this work?
A strict grid organizes the figure, while flowers unfold through curved outlines and layered petals. The contrast frames self-possession as something deliberately assembled within organic growth.
- Okunade states that his practice addresses women’s resilience, informed by the women around him. Here, that concern takes form through the figure’s commanding scale, elevated gaze and composure rather than narrative action.
- The photographed painting shows the woman filling the canvas vertically, her braids extending the upright structure. Flowers crowd both sides, while three butterflies cross the comparatively open upper-left area. The artist identifies the garden with cultivated potential and the butterflies with acceptance once pursued.
- The documented acrylic-on-canvas medium permits crisp blocks beside fluid floral contours. Squares in dark reds, blues, pinks and browns model the face and torso without breaking their legible silhouette.
- The work is particularly relevant to displays examining portraiture and self-definition. Its competing systems, measured grid and irregular plant forms, keep the artist’s hopeful metaphor from becoming a simple illustration of personal growth.
About the Artist
Olamilekan Okunade
Olamilekan Okunade is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Nigeria, NG.
Nationality: Nigerian
Geometry pattern| Constructivism Art| Pixilating Arts| Creating Piece with Acrylic on canvas Co-Founder @sipandpaintyourmentalhealth
