Love, Womanhood, and 90s R&B
Slayyyyy by Sola Olulode
Last week I sat down (over zoom) with British-Nigerian artist Sola Olulode. Based in South London, her work explores the complexities of Black identity and womanhood. Here’s what we spoke about 🐸☕️
Addy: Did you always know that you wanted to be an artist?
Sola: Yes, I did from a very young age. I've never had any other real interest. I speak to my mum and she always says that when I was younger, I was just interested in drawing and painting. It was what I was best at in school as well. I was just really passionate about it from a young age. It was kind of very natural for me to go on to study [art] at university and then choose it as a career.
Addy: Do you have lots of paintings from when you were really small?
Sola: Yes. (laughs) There are some that are framed. My mum has some from nursery of little drawings of flowers, which I keep. I keep everything. I'm a bit of a hoarder.
Addy: Same. Okay, (we’re both Nigerian) so I have to ask, how did your parents react to you deciding to be an artist?
Sola: I guess because I'm third-generation, my parents are second generation, they weren't against it. I didn't feel it was a barrier, that I had to convince my parents I wanted to go and study art. I felt like at first, my mum was more concerned about how I was going to earn a living. She wanted me to do a more design-based course/theory-based course to be more employable, because I just studied fine art (painting).
If you say you want to be a painter, it's like, "Okay, good luck”. It's like saying you want to be a singer. When I graduated, I was able to get into some graduate shows and had a lot of exhibitions on, then sold some paintings, and then once my parents could see [that] I guess, they we more on board.
Come Together by Sola Olulode
Addy: Of course, the BBZ grad show!
Sola: That was like a major moment for me, because it was being part of a grad show, and the fact that it was a grad show that focused on being black and queer. It was great to be a part of that community [and] to actually have this really amazing, high-quality exhibition. They paid us and really valued our work, it came from a great place and the community took part in celebrating the exhibition. It was a real proud moment for me. Then from that exhibition, I got my first sales of paintings. It was a big moment for me.
Addy: To have done all of that, so early in your career, is huge.
Sola: I've been really lucky that I've had the momentum.
Addy: Okay, so walk me through your painting process.
Sola: One of the main things I do, I developed my style when I was at uni, is I use dyeing techniques in my practice. I was influenced by Adire, which is the Yoruba textile. Initially, it was to make backgrounds for my paintings. I would use Batik techniques and resistance techniques to dye backgrounds for the canvas. Then I [would] also use it to outline figures and create textures and patterns.
This is Cute by Sola Olulode
I dye my canvas first, indigo, then stretch it and paint over the top areas. [Sometimes] I incorporate some of the wax on top. That was the first breakthrough moment. Then I expanded on the dyeing techniques and moved on from indigo, I’m going through a yellow phase right now. But I’ve stopped dyeing as much, sometimes it's a stain with just ink or water colour. It's a bit of a mixed media. I also use oil bars and oil pastels in my work.
Addy: That sounds really interesting. I like the idea of going through a yellow phase. Is that also to do with your hair? (which is also yellow rn)
Sola: (laughs) I think it’s kind of linked. When I was working with blue, I had blue hair. Yeah, I started with blue and that was kind of a phase because I really liked the way it complimented black and brown skin tones. Then because I was working with dye, I kind of moved on. I started initially using turmeric to dye my canvas, that didn't work out, but I still liked the yellow. I feel like I see my work thematically, the blue was all about dancing and club nightlife. The yellow is about love and joy and couples and romance.
Gal Pals by Sola Olulode
Addy: I love that. What do you find the most challenging about creating art?
Sola: The most challenging? Oooh I've never been asked this question. I don’t know, I feel like most of it comes naturally to me because I like using my hands. I think the most challenging part of it, I guess… the stress of it? Especially when you're working towards an exhibition and you've got deadlines, that can stifle the creative process. [It’s okay] if it's just me wanting to make whatever for myself, just like a series or a painting that I'm interested in exploring. But once you introduce the work side of it and you have expectations on you, that can subdue the creative process and take the fun out of it.
Addy: I get that, creativity doesn't really follow deadlines.
Sola: Yes. I think because my work is personal to me and is a lot about emotions and feelings, sometimes I get to the studio and I'm like, "You know what? It's just not working. The work I'm making is not coming out good. It's not looking the way I want”, and it’s because I'm not in the mood.
Then again I'm also very productive when there are deadlines, because I'm a bit of that person, I'm just rushing to finish. Sometimes that can be a great moment - but only if I’ve got into the right flow. I’m kind of a procrastinator.
Addy: Same lol. How has quarantine affected your creativity?
Sola: I guess because I was unable to go to the studio, I was just working from home. At the beginning of the pandemic, I wasn't really in the mood to turn my bedroom into a studio. I had stuff that I was working on [that] I couldn’t bring home. It was a shift in practice. I channeled my creativity in other ways. Because I had more time, I could actually relax. I'd been quite busy. I feel like since I graduated, I've been really busy, there's always been something I've been working on.
It was actually quite nice to have a break. I was at home and I was cooking every night and baking. I was channeling my creativity through that and doing the whole “Let me redecorate my room, reorganise things”.
I guess in the last couple of weeks, I've done a lot of stuff and now and I'm like, "Okay, back to work". I'm working on things on a smaller scale, doing prints and drawings, which is also quite nice because I normally just go straight to a painting. I don’t do many preparatory steps, I do my exploration as I'm painting. So it was actually quite nice. I said to myself, "You're not allowed to paint. You can only draw".
Addy: Yass, self care! Your work explores black identity and womanhood, who and what are your greatest influences?
Sola: My greatest influences are family, friends and the wider community, black community, and the QTPOC community. That's where a lot of my inspiration comes from, especially with my first series. I did a series which was about QTPOC nightlife, going to the clubs and dancing with your friends. Chosen family, I guess is the term I’d use to describe them.
Also colour palettes of films often inspire me. I get a lot of images from films, I watch them and take stills. Music videos like R&B and hip hop are the vibe I go for. I guess [it’s] the music I like the most.
Addy: Are there any in particular that you really like?
Sola: I really love Barry Jenkins, he directed Moonlight. The scenes and the way he shows those, it's been really inspirational to me. I really love the music video for Smile by Jay Z. It makes me cry every time, I did a painting of that.
Be Your Girl by Sola Olulode
Addy: You use a lot of wax, pastels, ink, oil bar, and impasto.
Sola: Yes. I guess I can never pick a painting style, so each work is different. I'm always experimenting within the paintings. Sometimes I'm solely working with ink. Sometimes I paint things with oil paint and I get really into the realism of it all and wanting to make it look fluid, or other times I just want to be more expressive. That's where the impasto comes in and I'm using oil bars and building up the textures, especially with the wax as well.
Addy: How has your practice evolved over time?
Sola: The colour palette is becoming more expansive because I started just solely working with blue. It was very limited. I was just using blues, browns, black and gold. Then moved on to yellow. Now, I even have a lot of green. [I’m] more confident with colour and confident with the materials that I'm using. Just adding whatever I feel in the mood for, like charcoal or pastels.
Addy: Do you have a favourite piece of work that you’ve created?
Sola: I think I have a few favourites. One of my favourites is a painting I did during my second year of uni. It's an oil painting called She's Like My Sister. It’s of these two girls who are friends and they're wearing matching outfits. It looks like they're at the beach but it's about being young and having a close friendship with someone like your best friend, your BFF back at school who you do everything with. You think of as family.
She’s Like My Sister by Sola Olulode
Addy: Was it based on you and your best friend?
Sola: A lot of the images that I work from are from Instagram, clips that I just see, people's videos. I saw this video, I think it was only one girl, [she] was just doing a little dance. I liked the pose that her body was in, so I painted her and then flipped her and added [another] figure. Colour palette wise and outfits, the energy [came from] Solange’s album A Seat at the Table, which had just come out. The music videos that she produced, I was looking at as well. When she had black women together, dancing and that kind of thing.
Addy: Did you see her at Lovebox a few years ago?
Sola: Omg, I touched her! (laughs) I was standing at the front, I have this video. She was this close to me. (she was in fact v close)
Addy: Omg! I was so far back. Okay, sorry, so one of your favourite works is She's Like My Sister. Do you have any others?
Sola: I do have others. The painting that I did of Smile, the Jay Z video, is one of my favourites as well. It's a painting I did in a day and everything just came together. It was really a quick process. I was really pleased with the outcome. Then Be Your Girl from the Adire series. That's a favourite of mine.
Addy: Amazing. I don't know if this is going to be hard to answer, but how do you know when a painting is done?
Sola: Sometimes I feel like they're never really done. I just get to a point where I have to stop working on them because they need to go into an exhibition or be photographed.
I always feel like I want to keep working on something. Some of them, like one called My love, that was done because I was working from a particular image. I was like, "I've captured the image to completion, all of the elements are in there". I always feel like there’s more that I can do, more that I can add, more experimentation. But I guess sometimes I have to stop myself.
Addy: Last question! Your painting Eternal Light is part of the exhibition, The Apocalypse Will Blossom, which celebrates courage, patience, and hope. What does that mean to you?
Sola: Because the exhibition is about the emotions of lockdown, the painting is of a couple embracing each other and that physical intimacy. I guess it’s what a lot of us are missing, being connected to our loved ones and being allowed to hug them or touch them. It's longing for those relationships and those intimacies to appear when this pandemic is all over. An ode to our loved ones.
Eternal Light by Sola Olulode
Addy: That's so wholesome. I really like that. Now, for the rapid fire round! 🔥🔥 I made a flash card.
Sola: Wow, (laughs) very professional.
Addy: Thank you. Here we go: Painting or sketching?
Sola: Painting.
Addy: Dada or Surrealism?
Sola: Surrealism.
Addy: Music or film?
Sola: Ooh that's hard. That's really hard. Music, I think.
Addy: Velvet or corduroy?
Sola: Velvet.
Addy: Friday night or Sunday morning?
Sola: Friday night.
Addy: 70s funk or 90s R&B?
Sola: 90s R&B.
Addy: Who would play you in a movie of your life?
Sola: That's an interesting question. I don't know the names of that many actresses. Who would play me in a movie? I don't know.
Addy: I know, It's really hard.
Sola: I guess that reflects the industry, that I don't really know the names of enough young black actresses that I could see myself as. I could go for the bait ones like Amandla Stenberg, but I’m just like, "They don't really look like me." (laughs)
Addy: We need more young black actresses!
Sola: Yes.
Addy: And lastly, what’s your favourite song right now?
Sola: I do like Quarantine by IAMDDB. That's been on repeat the past week.
Addy: Cool, I’m defo going to listen to it after this. Thanks so much, this has been really fun!
Check out Sola’s latest exhibition The Apocalypse Will Blossom here.