ARTIST

Sola Olulode was born in 1996 and works and lives in London. The Brixton-based British-Nigerian artist’s dreamy queer visions explore embodiments of British Black Womxn and Non-Binary Folx. Working with various mediums of natural dyeing, batik, wax, ink, pastel, oil bar, and impasto she develops textural canvases that explore the fluidities of identities. Drawing inspiration from lived experience, friends, and cultural reference points to centre Black Queer Womxn, Olulode emphasises the integral need of representation and celebration of queer intimacies.

Her utopian scenes celebrate relationships that transcend crude notions of queer sexuality, her figures exemplify the warm embrace of queer love, a temporal space to bathe in memories of intimacies abundant with scenes of profoundly deep tender connections. Envisaging a world reflective of the celebration of her own identities Olulode brings to life representation and visibility of Black Queer lived experiences. Her figures represent multifaceted complex individuals and the energy they hold in their bodies, relishing in a boundless temporality of self-validation and joy.

Olulode received a BA in Fine Art Painting from the University of Brighton in 2018. Since graduating she has succeeded residencies with solo shows: von Goetz, Moving in the Bluish Light (2018); Lewisham Art House, Hold My Hand (2019); V.O Curations, Where the Ocean Meets the Beach (2020); and featured in the V&A’s In the Palm of Your Hands (2020). Various group exhibitions include: BBZ BLK BK: Alternative Graduate Show (2018); Twilights of the Idols (2020), Alice Black; Build Love Break Walls (2020), Shado Magazine; Blacklisted: An Indefinite Revolution (2020), Christie’s Education; and most recently When Shit Hits the Fan (2020), Guts Gallery (online).

CHARITY

Tanya Compass founded Exist Loudly in the summer of 2020 to create spaces of joy and community for Black LGBTQ+ youth in the UK.⁣

“Exist Loudly is a love letter to my younger self,” says Compass. “It’s a commitment to Black LGBTQ+ young people that there will be spaces for them to just exist, without minimizing their identity to feel safe, loved or cared for.”⁣

Black queer joy is revolutionary and Black queer community is a life line. This is why joy and community are at the heart of everything Exist Loudly does.