LAOLU Senbanjo is a man of many parts \u2013 a self-taught visual artist, musician, actor, and former human rights attorney. Born and raised in Ilorin, Laolu left Nigeria for the U.S in 2013, to pursue his art career. For a long time, he was a struggling artist, rejected by several art galleries. However, he was consistent!<\/p>\n
In less than five years since he moved, he has had his work heavily influenced by Yoruba culture \u2013 featured on Nike outfit and on dancers in Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s visual album, \u2018Lemonade\u2019 and finally on Belvedere. Laolu spoke to Vanguard Arts. Excerpts<\/p>\n
Despite your exploits in New York, even imbibing the city into your art name, Laolu NYC, you are still very much rooted in your heritage, Why? As an artist I get to share my soul with people around me, my environment and the world and I\u2019m able to channel my experiences like my journey as a human rights attorney and as a Nigerian. When you are Nigerian, you really are an ambassador for the country without even realising it. My art has allowed me not only to express myself but also educate people and I never thought that I would be in that kind of space to do that. Art has been that tool that has brought me in front of a lot of people and allowed me to explain what it means to be Nigerian. I explain to them what the imagery I use signifies and I take them to Nigeria without them having to move an inch which is a unique thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAOLU Senbanjo is a man of many parts \u2013 a self-taught visual artist, musician, actor, and former human rights attorney. Born and raised in Ilorin, Laolu left Nigeria for the U.S in 2013, to pursue his art career. For a long time, he was a struggling artist, rejected by several art galleries. However, he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":1867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,17],"tags":[140,141],"class_list":["post-1865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-art","tag-culture-and-art"],"yoast_head":"\n