Artist Name: Ajet
Primary Discipline: Visual Art

* Artist Statement
My personal culture is shaped by my experiences as a Yoruba woman and an African in diaspora, as well as by my media consumption, and my travels. My culture influences my choice of subject matter, style, techniques and materials. My cultural identity also influences the reception of my work, prompting interpretations and conversations. I make meaning of cultural practices in the context of the past, the present and the possible futures. My creative practice challenges oppressions normalized as tradition, invites my audience to speculate on alternate realities, facilitates the exchange of culture and prompts the remembrance of collective memories.

* Artist Biography
Olusayo Ajetunmobi aka Ajet is a folk artist. Her multidisciplinary practice explores themes of migration, identity and equality. Every year since 2020, Ajet collaborates with at least one NGO to create illustrations and graphic designs, advocating for social change. Notably creating a research-based infographic and a reimagined folktale for an art-book titled SEEN. The art-book was published by the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, and launched at the Feminist Library, Peckham. This project inspired her body of work, titled "Girls just having fun"; a series of mixed media paintings, exploring the ways that beauty standards and invisible labour keep women from enjoying themselves. The production of these paintings was enhanced by a 2024 spring residency at Villa Karo, the Finnish-West African cultural exchange and research centre in Grand Popo.