Rotimi Fani-Kayode Explores the Studio as a Safe Space

While ART X Lagos unfolds in Nigeria, London’s Autograph is set to unveil a powerful solo exhibition showcasing the work of Lagos-born photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode. In a magnetic display of black and white portraits, The Studio – Staging Desire honors the sanctuary of the artist’s Brixton studio, which served as a creative haven for Black queer self-expression.

Through a series of archival photographs and never-before-seen works, the exhibition follows Fani-Kayode as he ventured into spiritual worlds of intimacy, pain and fantasy. From 1983 until his death in 1989, the studio became a home for love and freedom amidst the racial and cultural bustle of London. Coded within sharp gestures, poses and a haunting sense of longing, his work captures a language of complex desire and difference.

A seminal figure in British contemporary art, Fani-Kayode invited audiences to explore new dimensions of identity and the self. Braiding Yoruba spirituality with a bold approach to portraiture, “these photographs reveal what it meant for Fani-Kayode to negotiate the status of ‘outsider’, turning this into the generative force that has defined the artist’s practice,” the gallery writes in a statement.

The Studio – Staging Desire will be on view at Autograph’s gallery in Shoreditch, London from October 31, 2024 through March 22, 2025.

Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA
UK

Click here to view full gallery at Hypebeast

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Explores the Studio as a Safe Space

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Explores the Studio as a Safe Space

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Explores the Studio as a Safe Space

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Explores the Studio as a Safe Space

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Explores the Studio as a Safe Space