A BLACK WOMAN WITH A DISTINCT HAIRSTYLE by Rapheal Akano Explore Mondoir Studio Medium: Acrylic and charcoal on canvas Dimensions: 18 x 24 in Year: 2025 Price: $800.00 USD Status: available A Black woman with a distinctive hairstyle composed of large, round puffs. Her hair is styled in a way that creates a crown-like effect above her head. Why collect this work?The work sets a carefully modelled grayscale portrait against compressed, skyline-like blocks, using the contrast to make the sitter appear both embedded in and distinct from her setting. The artist profile identifies identity, emotion, light, and colour as Akano’s concerns. Here, identity is conveyed through direct address and deliberate presentation rather than a detailed narrative.In the photograph, the figure fills most of the canvas. Rounded hair forms build a strong upper silhouette, while irregular vertical blocks rise around her body and recur across the foreground, partially interrupting the portrait.The documented combination of charcoal and acrylic makes possible both gradual tonal transitions and opaque, high-contrast marks. Without process documentation, however, the photograph does not establish which medium produced each passage.Encountered as a contemporary portrait, the work supports discussion of how individuality is constructed through silhouette, gaze, and contrast when the surrounding environment is reduced to colour and rhythmic vertical forms. About the ArtistRapheal Akano Rapheal Akano is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: mixed-media. Based in Oyo, NG. Nationality: Nigerian Through art, I aim to communicate Beauty of African, emotion, identity, and the subtle details of human experience.
