Yewande Ambeke’s Art of Mustering Memory on Canvases

Yinka Olatunbosun

In the secluded stillness of Yewande Ambeke’s home studio in Lagos, time seems to stretch and reshape itself around her canvases. Rich indigo, earthy ochre and densely textured figures build visual worlds in which memory, identity and emotion converge. Ambeke does not merely paint; she excavates, layering heavy textures and fluid brushwork to explore the spaces between silence and expression. Her work has drawn the attention of art lovers and collectors for its intimacy and its engagement with the emotional complexities of everyday life.

While occasionally prying her toddler’s hand from the edges of the paintings, Ambeke spoke unreservedly about the deliberate clarity that defines her art.

Born in 1994, Ambeke grew up surrounded by nature and with little idea of what the future held. She initially set out to study clinical pharmacy, earning distinctions in both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. But the moment she began painting, something shifted. Consumed by a creative energy she could no longer ignore, she traded her lab coat for an artist’s apron. She has since consolidated her skills through avid reading, online tutorials, art residencies and workshops, becoming increasingly absorbed in her exploration of the human mind.

The self-taught artist has built her practice around a desire to navigate emotions that are often suppressed — joy, fear, hope and anxiety — and which she believes resonate with audiences through shared human experience. One of the distinguishing features of her work is the fluid, almost vibrating quality of her figures, giving rise to abstract figurative paintings that feel at once intimate and otherworldly.

Her artistic development received a boost at the Rele Boot Camp in 2021. The experience, which included mountaineering, rekindled her bond with nature. In 2022, she became a finalist for the Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art in Accra, Ghana. The following year, she won third prize at The Art Report Africa Prize.

Inside the warmth of her studio, the paintings gradually came into view. Several unfinished works were spread across a large table at the centre of the room.

“Painting started first as a therapy for me to reset. It was like a safe place at first,” she said. “While we deal with panic attacks and anxiety and fears, art helps. I didn’t think of art as a career.”

Having trained as a pharmacist, painting was initially a pastime. Then the paintings began to sell. It has since evolved into a career that also gives her the flexibility to fulfil her roles as a wife and first-time mother. More importantly, painting provides a space for introspection, allowing her to release her thoughts while drawing on experiences from the past.

Between 2023 and 2024, while busy with wedding preparations, she produced a body of landscape paintings steeped in nostalgia.

“My family home had a lot of trees,” she recalled. “I grew up with nature and I loved it. All of those influences show in my works. But my father has removed all the trees now at home to build new structures.”

For every tree that was felled, Ambeke preserved something of the memory in paint. The resulting landscapes evoke the peace and serenity of her childhood while becoming, in effect, a private archive of a vanished landscape. Painting has also helped to deepen her relationship with her husband, as the couple confront and reveal unspoken truths one canvas at a time.

Looking through the works, her artistic progression is palpable. Having started with hyperrealistic paintings and self-portraits, she gradually moved towards representations of Black figures and the complexities of human emotion. During the COVID-19 lockdown, she lost her job. The distress of that period, compounded by the relentless news reports of rising death tolls, drove her further towards the solace she found in her brushes.

In “Madonna and Child”, she revisits the familiar imagery of maternal love while experimenting with blue and green, colours that reflect her enduring affinity with nature.

“Comforter and The Comforted”, her 2023 abstract figurative painting, is animated by swirling forms that create a soothing atmosphere. Ambeke hopes the work will rekindle the experience of being comforted.

Borrowing from French, she titled another painting “Je Suis Fatiguée”, meaning “I am tired”. Her counter-intuitive use of pink to articulate a sombre emotional state is striking.

“Life is not all darkness,” she says. “We as humans have a combination of both good and bad days. I try to find that contrast in my work. Emotions can’t always be happy all the time. We have those low moments. I choose bright and dark colours to capture that.”

Her paintings also celebrate community, particularly the ways in which people lean on one another for support. In “Safe Space” I and II and “Reaching Out”, she revisits memories of supportive friends who have been present during her moments of low energy.

Influenced by artists including Modupeola Fadugba, Frank Auerbach, Glenn Brown, Jade Fadojutimi, Cecily Brown and Nengi Omuku, Ambeke keeps her practice open-ended. Her concerns may be rooted in personal memory and experience, but the emotions she explores are not confined to any particular geography. They are, in her telling, part of the larger vocabulary of being human.

Her exhibitions include She Energy II, Alliance Française, Ikoyi (2026); Pursuit of Happiness, Windsor Gallery, Lagos (2025); Vessels by ArtSplit, Lagos (2024); At Once, Then Again: Selections from Practice, Rele Gallery, Lagos (2023); and the Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art, Accra, Ghana (2022).