Still by Olumide Ajayi
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Mixed media on Canvas
Dimensions: 91 x 91 cm
Year: 2025
Price: $1650.00 USD
Status: available
This painting is me admitting that I’ve lived in the space between growth and sorrow. That I can bloom and break at the same time. That I’ve felt fragile, small, hidden, but still, I remain. Still, I hold myself. Still, I rise again. When I look at this painting, I see myself. I see the way I fold into myself when the weight of life feels too much to carry out loud. I see how I’ve learned to hold myself together, even in silence, even when no one else knows what I’m holding inside. The flowers on the green fabric remind me of how I’ve always tried to bloom for others — to give beauty, comfort, and love, even when I was wilting on the inside. I wore my tenderness like a garden, but behind it, I was curled inwards, just trying to keep from breaking apart. There’s a small smile on the face, and it hurts me because I know that smile so well. It’s the one I give when I don’t want anyone to worry, when I’m falling apart, but I pretend I’m fine. It’s survival, not joy. The blue surrounding me in this piece feels like an ocean, the ocean I’ve drowned in silently, the one made of unspoken thoughts, heartbreaks, and quiet grief. And yet, even in this ocean, I am still here. Still breathing. Still carrying myself, even if it means holding on with everything I have left.
Why collect this work?
The figure’s arms circle raised knees, forming a closed central mass amid scattered dots, arrows, questions, and phrases. Stillness reads here as sustained self-holding rather than ease, while the small smile keeps outward composure and expressed sorrow in tension.
- Ajayi states that his practice addresses complex feelings and treats the body as a means of approaching the mind. In this work, that intention is carried by posture and surrounding language rather than individualized facial detail.
- In the photograph, green floral clothing occupies much of the square field, while the bowed head and encircling arms compress the figure inward. Written references to grief, sadness, and breaking press against that protective contour.
- The catalogue identifies mixed media on canvas but does not specify its components. Visibly distinct areas of figure, floral motif, repeated blue dots, and handwriting allow decorative pattern and direct statement to compete for attention.
- This painting provides a focused case for considering how portraiture can locate interior experience across bodily pose, ornament, and text, rather than treating the face as its sole expressive centre.
About the Artist
Olumide Ajayi
Olumide Ajayi is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: Painter. Mixed Media. Based in Ibadan, NG.
Nationality: Nigerian
My work seeks to embrace complex feelings, giving them a canvas to breathe, shift, and resonate.
