Working at the confluence of fashion photography and classical portraiture, Lakin Ogunbanwo’s portraits are enigmatically vibrant and bold in composition, while play with a subterranean erotic and transgressive tone. Ogunbanwo’s subjects exist defiantly in the frame often masked by shadow, drapery and foliage – a minimalist homage to vanguards of African studio photography of the 1960s and 70s such as Malick Sidibé.

Solo exhibitions include We Must Not Be Looking, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Johannesburg (2017) and Are We Good Enough, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town (2015). Selected group exhibitions include Nataal: New African Photography, Red Hook Labs, New York (2016); Dey Your Lane!, BOZAR, Brussels (2016) and Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos (2016). Ogunbanwo was recognised by the British Journal of Photography as one of the Top 25 Photographers of 2015 in their annual ‘Ones to Watch’ edition. He was recently commissioned to create several installations for the window displays of Galeries Lafayette, Paris as part of the exhibition, Africa Now (2017).