Sanjo Lawal works between photography, creative editing, and digital painting. He renders skin in near-charcoal tones so the colors around it can sing harder. Born in Lagos in 1997 and raised in Ijebu Ode, he draws on Yoruba ceremony, the Ojude Oba festival, and the layered textiles of his mother’s wardrobe.
His Artsman the Traveler series began on his first trip outside Nigeria, in Arles, in 2023. Posing before the Roman coliseum, he picked up the thread of Ajala the Traveler, the Nigerian globetrotter who documented his journeys on a scooter in the 1980s. Architecture, costume, and self-portraiture became one continuous gesture.
In 2024 Lawal launched Brothers Lawee with his siblings Mayowa and Doyin, turning ceremonial lace into shirts, trousers, and baseball jackets. The oversized headpieces in his portraits read as crowns. “We are kings and queens,” he says. “Never forget that.”