QUEEN OF THE CITY by Rapheal Akano
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
Dimensions: 24 x 24 in
Year: 2025
Price: $900.00 USD
Status: available
This title represents a woman who owns her space, her identity, and her power within the urban world. She is not just living in the city—she rules her environment with confidence, resilience, and presence.
Why collect this work?
A frontal, nearly square portrait sets a composed figure against a compressed cityscape, using scale and direct address to make personal presence seem larger than the surrounding architecture.
- Akano states that his practice explores identity, emotion, and African beauty. Here, that concern is concentrated in the sitter’s sustained gaze and self-possessed pose, while the title frames her as an urban authority rather than a backdrop to the city.
- In the photograph, the figure fills most of the canvas. Her bent arm supports her head without diminishing her direct gaze; behind her, narrow towers rise like a bright, irregular screen. The contrast turns apparent repose into a claim on space.
- The documented acrylic and charcoal medium enables two distinct registers: vivid blocks of yellow, green, red, and blue surround a largely grayscale figure, while dark linear marks articulate the garment and facial features.
- Dated 2025 and measuring 24 by 24 inches, the work can anchor discussion of how contemporary portraiture redistributes visual power between an individual and the urban environment used to define her.
About the Artist
Rapheal 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.
