Nigerian visual artist, Morenike Olusanya better known as Renike, is undoubtedly doing her part to promote the “Black Girl Magic” as she revealed that she draws inspiration for her artistic work from Black women, particularly Nigerians.
According to the Nigerian-born artist, everything about black women from their body structure, skin colour, fashion, and even the black culture, propels her to make art.
CNN reported her words as quoted, “I’m in Nigeria; Black women are all I see. I love to paint our culture, our fashion and our hairstyles.”
Her work, following CNN’s report, ranges from portraits, to dance art, to the covers of bestselling books. Some of them are created on a canvas, but she prefers to illustrate digitally.
Morenike’s works are primarily to share a message about what it’s like to be a Black woman in today’s world.
Her works have been discovered and appreciate by many black women across the world.
The first Black female minister in Germany, Aminata Touré, award-winning American author, Coe Booth, and Jamaican-American author, Nicola Yoon, are just a few of the remarkable women whose book covers she has created.
She created the artwork for Yoon’s book “Instructions for Dancing” cover in 2020, depicting a Black guy and a Black woman dancing the tango.
Renike told CNN that “The book is about a woman, Evie, taking up dancing. She meets a man she connects with through dance,” adding that the cover took her two months to finish.
Olusanya referred to the experience of creating the cover art as a “dream come true,” especially considering that it quickly shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list after its release in June 2021.
Olusanya referred to the experience of creating the cover art as a “dream come true,” especially considering that it quickly shot to the top of the New York Times bestseller list after its release in June 2021.
28-year-old Olusanya, majored in creative arts at the University of Lagos. After working as a graphic designer, she eventually decided to pursue visual arts full-time in 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown.
