Yusuff Aina is bringing his multidimensional world to life through ‘Eniyan: Escape Room’
"I don’t always think a small canvas is enough to explore what's in my head."
The Lagos-born multidisciplinary artist, Yusuff Aina is a world shaper and masterful storyteller. Through his colourful and thorough interrogation into his own psyche, he’s crafting a visual world that visualises his feelings of escape. To portray this, he utilises his self-invented character, Eniyan, which he describes as “human beings, persons, everybody, nobody, man and woman at the same time.”
Eniyan has been featured as a fictional character in most of Aina’s recent work including The Escape Room, a multidimensional exhibition which explores varying mental states of mind with themes such as solitude, anxiety, bliss and more. Aina admits that Eniyan is a visual manifestation of his unique form of artistic expression known as Ainaism. “Ainaism means life. I incorporate it with my art form which is Eniyan. It’s the body that tells the story and journey of life in Ainaism,” he shares with the NATIVE.
Everything crafted within Aina’s world is not without reason or place. Right from the early stages of his career, Aina has paid close attention to his linear motion techniques for crafting his vision. It was this curiosity for tracing where it all started that led Yusuff Aina to take a closer look at his culture and history which enabled him to reinterpret this for contemporary audiences. “Eniyan is the medium to explore the journey of human beings and Ainaism represents that unseen pattern and form of navigation in life. All works I create through Eniyan possess a uniqueness in form, compositions, symbols, language, connection to being and spirituality,” he shares.
View this post on Instagram
Aina’s building is a result of his experimentation with different tools and mediums over the years. He tells the NATIVE that he believes that human beings are connected to the earth and can utilise resources around them to craft beautiful concepts. “You’ll find that in my works; a lot of sand, stones and cracks. My paintings symbolise the expression or mental state of us as beings,” he shares.
Aina reflects these themes through the lens of mental health and “state of mind” in colour-coordinated rooms categorised—Red Room, Blue Room, Yellow Room, White Room, Green Room and Black Room. “There’s one that shows sadness and depression. The same work shows me needing a hand because I felt helpless. There’s a work showing how I started taking charge and form of my situation. There’s another work showing where I am right now, where I’ve found bliss,” he shares candidly.
His latest exhibition ‘Eniyan: Escape Room’ is a return to his current state of mind. He shares that the exhibition is an attempt to form a connection with the world around him. As a child from a large extended family, he never really had a close-knit family unit which left him longing for connection and interrelatedness. “The Escape Room focuses on different states of mind that influence our choices. I’ve been longing for connection with myself and the people around me,” he shares candidly.
View this post on Instagram
In a NATIVE exclusive interview, Yusuff Aina dives into his two-year long curatorial process for the exhibition, while looking back at his journey into the art world as well as expectations for the future.
Our conversation, which follows below, has been lightly edited for clarity.
NATIVE: Talk me through your journey leading up to this moment. What pushed you to start creating professionally?
I’m from Abeokuta but based in Lagos. I have been creating art since I was four—primary one. I wanted to be a dancer and a goalkeeper but art was the thing that gave me the most promise. Art has been a passion and a journey. It has been my backbone. Whenever I’m having difficulties with human beings, art has never left me and that made me really want to study art more. As I was creating my patterns and motions, I decided to call my kind of art Ainaism—from my name Aina. In my second year of College, I designed the character I’m currently working with. I scribbled something out of boredom. A year later, it became a recurring joy in my pieces and compositions.
Compared to when you first started in 2016, I’m sure you have experienced some growth. How would you say these past years are different for you looking back?
Crazy growth. In the last 7 or 8 years, I’ve gone through different transformations and phases and I’ve expressed my kind of art in many ways; through charcoal, drawings, paintings, designs, graphics, and animation. I’ve transformed from creating in different ways to where I am right now. The journey has been tough, battling low self-esteem, depression, moodiness, solitude, [and] rejection from different angles of life. I’m glad I experienced those things even though they weren’t fine. I guess it’s just meant to be for me to be where I am right now. I appreciate it, especially the grace of God. My faith in him is really powerful, and I don’t second guess him.
Who are some of your early art inspirations?
My older brother was an inspiration to me as a child. We used to draw together but he stopped doing that after a while. I always wanted to do better than him. In the professional area, I was inspired by David Akinola, a very good multidisciplinary artist. The way he combines lines and composition and his portrayal of figure drawings is fascinating. I have been inspired by KAWS, Pharrell Williams, Daniel Arsham and a few others. Ken Nwadiogbu was also my mentor. He helped me understand how to position [my] work in the art scene. Also, I’m my own inspiration. I’m inspired by where I want to be, what I want with my life, my calling and my kind of work.
View this post on Instagram
You coined the term Ainaism. What is this?
Ainaism is derived from the name Aina and it’s a child born with the umbilical cord around the neck during childbirth. It was a life-threatening situation that my mom and I went through. When I discovered my mom was an Aina, I started digging deep to learn more about this name and how it’s linked to my art. I started creating my lines and patterns without knowing what they were. I later realised that my lines symbolised the umbilical cord which is the connection between life and birth. So Ainaism means life. It means birth and the lines in my work are called linear motion. I incorporate it with my art form which is Eniyan. It’s the body that tells the story and journey of life in Anaism.
Eniyan is the medium to explore the journey of human beings and Ainaism represents that unseen pattern and form of navigation in life. All works I create through Eniyan possess a uniqueness in form, compositions, symbols, language, connection to being and spirituality. Eniyan stands as the body to represent human beings in this journey of life that I’m trying to express through my work. There’s a language to it as well that I am building and over the next few years, I hope to have been able to compose a lot of like symbols.
Why do you feel like these chosen mediums are the best ways to best translate your ideas and thoughts?
I am very connected to the earth and I believe that we are all from the earth. You’ll find that in my works; a lot of sand, stones and cracks. It is a metaphor for where we are now as human beings. As we were created from dust, over time, we shall return. Our choices and behaviours are affecting our form and that’s why the cracks are in my work. Sculptures represent a stillness to express motion and movement once of human beings. From a still sculpture, you can see different types of motion. My paintings symbolise the expression or mental state of us as beings. The colours also represent emotions or stories which I’m trying to make people feel through my work. I want people to be able to look inwards and discover themselves. Everything is linked to the genesis of human beings.
Would you say that these creative processes for each medium differ in any way?
They have different approaches because of their nature. For paintings, I either work with a brush, paint, my hands, sand, palette knife and so on. Sculpting is different. I keep in line with the general approach to creating forms and the basic elements, principles and forms of design. So there are different approaches.
A lot of the works scale very large. Is this a design preference and what inspired you to make your works in such larger-than-life sizes?
Most of my paintings range from four to eight feet but my murals are the largest. I don’t always think a small canvas is enough to explore what’s in my head. It also gives people the full experience [of] the piece on that scale. I even want people to see my work from afar and get drawn closer. The world is big enough for us to express and I’m down to explore all those areas.
What have these moments been like for you? How have you been feeling leading up to the opening day of the exhibition?
It’s been intense. I’ve been working on this particular show for two years now. This current project, Escape Room, started with paintings in January 2022. I’ve been exhibiting in showrooms across the world. I’m learning about myself. I learned through my art, conversations, passion, mindset and visuals. COVID-19 also triggered me to be able to reflect on myself. All these years, I’ve been building ideas and concepts.
This exhibition explores a lot of themes such as alienation, trust, and various ideas of belonging as well. Why do these themes stick out to you the most?
I’ve been longing for a connection with myself and the people around me. I did not come from a close-knit family and the relationships are very distant. I’ve been creating and living my life alone, and my solitude has really rubbed off on my interest as well. My work is there to show people they’re not alone and the significance of being there for one another.
The Eniyan stands as a medium to show people this. That also contributed to my interest in the psychological patterns of human beings. The Escape Room focuses on different states of mind that influence our choices. I’m using it to allow people to become aware of this and have these conversations, especially in a world where we pretend to be all fine. A lot is going on with us and it’s to encourage people to allow themselves to be vulnerable with one another.
View this post on Instagram
Let’s talk a bit more about Eniyan and why you decided that that would be your design trademark.
It was becoming a recurring pattern in my work and I was encouraged by Ken [Nwadiogbu], and some other friends of mine to look into it further. Indirectly, they were telling me to look within myself. I think Eniyan is a self-portrait for me, as much as it is a self-portrait of everybody in the world. Eniyan just feels right. It just feels like the real thing.
Talk to me about your selection process for the works you are showcasing in the exhibition. How did this come about?
There are 31 paintings and 5 sculptures. They [represent] different states of mind; the Red Room, the Blue Room, the Yellow Room, the White Room, the Green Room and the Black Room. I did not create the installation of the Black Room but I did paintings. The number of works in each room wasn’t intentional. I was just creating based on what felt right at that moment. Each wall has personal experiences in them. One is expressing how I’ve been entangled and overwhelmed with my life for the last eight to ten months and how I am trying to breathe. There’s one that shows sadness and depression. The same work shows me needing a hand because I felt helpless. There’s a work showing how I started taking charge and form of my situation. There’s another work showing where I am right now, where I’ve found bliss.
What do you hope audiences take away when they have a look at all the works?
That Eniyan is not just me, it’s everybody. It’s intended to be as subjective as it can to allow people to find themselves in my pieces. Any piece in the world that you don’t relate with, there’s someone else in your life that you know relates to it. I intend for them to find themselves, find courage and understand that they can do anything. Be expressive and loud and know that vulnerability is not a sign of weakness. To challenge our thoughts, challenge the contribution, the passion and know that we are bigger than what we think we are. We can actually find peace wherever we are. There is nothing under the sun that doesn’t find a resting place.
What can we expect from you moving forward? You already spoke briefly about Ainaism and how you want it, in the long run, to be converted to its own language and symbol of representation. What more can we expect from you?
There’s a lot I’ve been working on in the last eight years. Currently, as I’m exploring The Escape Room, there are different universes and dimensions in which The Escape Room can be expressed. I intend to release my Eniyan toys and sculptures in the next few months. I want to hold a second solo that’s more groundbreaking than this. I’m also picking up my fashion line. I have been creating fabric designs for the last 7 years. A lot of different things. One of my dream collaborations is with Pharrell Williams, especially Humanrace. I have a ton of designs and concepts for his skincare brand and if I can get that opportunity, it would be really sick.
View this post on Instagram
Featured Image Credits/Yusuff Aina
Togo YEYE & VLISCO’s new collaboration is a celebration of Lomé’s thriving creative scene
Togo YEYE is a community we are building for us by
Togo YEYE, a creative duo formed by Lomé-based creative director Malaika Nabillatou and London-based photographer Delali Ayivi, is a conceptual publication that was created to empower and champion Togo’s young fashion creatives. Since its inception in 2021, Togo YEYE has released several personal projects and has also partnered with a number of brands to further its hugely imaginative aesthetic mandate. For their latest collaboration, Togo YEYE teamed up with textile printing company VLISCO to present Blossoming Beauty. Tagged as a love letter to Togo’s creative community, the campaign captures Lomé’s scenic beauty alongside VLISCO’s vibrant prints with the aim of connecting the feminine grace of nature with identity and artistry.
What does Togo YEYE mean?
Malaika Nabilatou: My name is Malaika Nabilatou, I’m the creative director of Togo YEYE. I’m Togolese and I was born and grew up in Lomé. I see myself as a West African creative director and I’m working to be the best in a few years. Togo YEYE means new Togo in Ewe, one of the most popular languages spoken in the South of Togo.
What inspired you to create Togo YEYE?
Malaika Nabilatou: We started this project, my friend Delali and I, 5 years ago. We just wanted to show that Togolese youth are also creative. Togo YEYE is a community we are building for us by us. It wasn’t just a project for Delali and I. It’s become something for the creative scene of Lomé. Lomé is like our studio.
What role does Togolese culture play in your creative process?
Maryline Bolognima: For me, Togolese culture comes first. For example, in the South, there are the people of Anero. If you come, you can go to Anero. In the North, there are the Evals, so if you come to Togo, you’ll learn a lot.
What’s the most exciting part of working as a team on projects like this?
Malaika Nabilatou: I need to tell the truth, we dreamt about this campaign before [it happened]. When VLISCO contacted us, we were like wow. I can’t really explain how thankful we are to VLISCO for trusting us. Because it’s a risk that they took by trusting us, making that campaign here with our team and honestly we are going to keep it in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
Claudia Sodogbe: For me, it is the first big contract of my life that I had with Togo YEYE. I still remember, on the last day of the shoot, I was feeling nostalgic about separating from the teams and the others. It went well in any case, and I’m very grateful to have been on this project.
What has been your proudest moment as part of Togo YEYE?
Malaika Nabilatou: I think the proudest moment I had with this campaign was when I saw the result first on the website. When I saw the story, I was like “wow, we finally made it.”
Keep reading...
Jordan Adetunji Told Us The Meaning Of ‘kehlani’
We spoke to the Grammy-nominated young star about his smash hit "Kehlani" and new project ‘A Jaguar's...
The most distinctive quality of Jordan Adetunji’s music is how eclectic it sounds: it’s a melting pot that blends the jerky rhythms of club Rap with elements of Rock, R&B, Jersey Club and Afropop, creating addictive bitesize records that are inventive and strikingly dynamic. His growing discography, which currently includes a handful of singles and a debut mixtape, houses seductive and melodic rap songs that owe much of their influence to Cash Cobain’s raunchy interpretation of Drill music. The animated records erupt with the frenzy of hardcore Punk as well as other colourful and vibrant sounds that could easily soundtrack an anime fight scene. This comprehensive approach to making music that adopts influences from an array of established and obscure styles was inspired by the video game soundtracks Adetunji heard as a kid.
“Growing up, I played a lot of games like Need For Speed, Fight Night, Tekken, and a bunch of role-playing games, and I heard a lot of music in these games that inspired me to start making my own music as I grew older,” he tells me during a Google Meet conversation one afternoon in late November.
Adetunji’s clear aspiration to stretch his music out across genres and play with form is what birthed 2023’s ‘ROCK ‘N’ RAVE,’ his official debut project that manages to neatly encapsulate much of what he is about. Tender opener “INAUGURAL EPISODE,” is a slow, heartfelt confessional that’s buoyed by elegant violin strings and serves as a soft introduction into his eclectic and distorted world before listeners are immediately jolted to live with the insistent and booming bounce on “DECAY.”. This arbitrary style also birthed “Kehlani,” his inescapable breakout single which took off worldwide and peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single also recently earned him a 2025 Grammy nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance where he is up against heavyweights like Beyonce and Future, highlighting just how far he’s come in a short amount of time.
Long before the 25-year-old became a Grammy-nominated act, he was just an inquisitive teenager with a knack for tinkering with different sounds and melodies. Born in London, Adetunji lived in one of the city’s largest commercial areas for about 10 years before relocating to Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland, with his mum and siblings. Even though he had been fascinated by the idea of making music as a kid living in London, it wasn’t until he got to Belfast that he began to cut his teeth as a budding musician. There, he picked up music classes in high school, specifically learning how to play the trumpet.
“From there on, I started trying to record my own music on my mum’s laptop. After a while, I got my own small computer, a cheap interface and then I started recording songs and putting them online,” he tells me of his early journey.
After posting a bunch of spirited rap videos on Facebook, Adetunji put out his first official single in 2020 titled “Close 2 You.” The Dancehall-inspired single was followed by the frenetic, Rock-influenced “Wokeup!” just months after, quickly briefing early listeners that he wasn’t one to boxed in. British singer and songwriter Oli Sykes, who is most famous for being the frontman of the Rock band Bring Me the Horizon, happened to be one of Adetunji’s early admirers and he was intrigued by the then-upcoming singer’s Alt-Rock and Rap experimentation. He reached out to Adetunji and subsequently got him a deal with RCA Records.
Even after his recent signing with 300 Entertainmet/Warner UK Adetunji continued to record music in his bedroom, just like he did as a kid, tinkering and incorporating even more disparate elements to his already expansive sound. It was during one of these recording sessions that the framework of what would eventually morph into “Kehlani” was created.
“I had always wanted to write a song about someone who embodies a certain powerfulness and someone who is strong and stands for what they believe in. So I just ended up putting Kehlani’s name in when I was making the song,” he tells me, speaking of the inspiration behind the song.
“My brother was there with me while I was making “Kehlani” and I remember debating if I should keep the name in or take it out because I didn’t know what the reaction would be,” he continues. Unsure of how people would take to the song, Adetunji posted a snippet of the song on TikTok and to his surprise, it immediately took on a life of its own. This encouraged him to complete the song which he released shortly after and the rest is history.
Following the success of “Kehlani,” Adetunji shows no signs of taking his foot off the gas. He secured a highly anticipated remix with the alluring and self-assured inspiration of his Grammy-nominated single before closing out 2024 with the saccharine, Lil Baby-assisted “Options” which is cut from the same cloth as his breakout record. Speaking of how the collaboration came about, he explains that the Atlanta rapper was one of the first people to reach out to him after he released “Kehlani.”
“He showed me mad love. I finally met him in London and he said he would like to work with me. I sent him two songs that I had recorded and he dropped a verse on one of them,” he explains.
Looking to further acquaint his newfound audience with his eclectic soundscape and to cement his status as one of the most inventive new acts on the scene, the Grammy nominee recently announced the imminent arrival of his latest mixtape titled ‘A Jaguar’s Dream.’
“A Jaguar, to me, is someone who moves through spaces and conquers every space it enters. This is how I feel with my sound constantly evolving and conquering every space I enter into,” he explained in an official press release. “A Jaguar’s Dream is an entry into my love life and my world of thoughts through sound and emotion. A real manifestation of my dreams I wish to make reality.”
Keep reading...
Cruel Santino’s Unpredictable Journey Continues With Dazzling Art X Live! Performance
Just before taking the ArtX stage, we caught up with the genre-bending star about his return to live...
Cruel Santino is a shapeshifter. Emerging over a decade ago with the eclectic ‘Diaries Of A Loner’ mixtape series, the enigmatic rapper and singer has continually reinvented himself, drawing on a myriad of influences that range from Hideo Kojima’s legendary video games to veteran rapper 2shotz.
Words don’t do Santino’s fluid music justice, you’re better off just pressing play. That’s the only way to truly experience the breathless flows and numerous anime or movie references he can load into a minute detail, like a floor-model television; it’s also the only way to find yourself unabashedly screaming: “I had to run! I had to run! ” even when there’s no cause for alarm. This unconventional approach to making music that’s replete with local and foreign influences has helped Santino subvert expectations and existing industry structures at every turn in his accomplished career while creating unique and storied records that have garnered cult acclaim and have also found expression on multiple live stages, dorm rooms and moshpits.
After a brief hiatus following 2023’s delightful ‘Cincinnati Pumpin!!’ that looked to augment the eerie and ever-expanding Subaru Boys universe, the talented Edo native recently graced the Art X Live! stage for its ninth edition alongside others like S-Smart, Aniko, and Fuji legend Adewale Ayuba. The annual show’s latest edition looked to offer a mix of genre-bending sounds and styles from both visual artists and musicians like Santi who delivered a memorable set that included cult classics like “Sparky,” and “Rapid Fire” as well as deep cuts like “TAPENGA” from the thematic ‘Subaru Boys: FINAL HEAVEN.’ He was also joined onstage by fellow alte star Boj who assisted him in performing their new duet “Borderline” before closing out with a couple of more fan favourites.
Shortly before taking the Art X Live! stage, we caught up with the talented singer and rapper for a quick conversation about live performances, his music-making process and the influence of indigenous music on his ever-evolving sound.
View this post on Instagram
This your first time going on stage since when?
Shit. Since December last year.
How does it feel like to be going onstage again after almost a year away?
Honestly, it’s nerve-wracking. I took a break this year to work on a genuine piece of media that I’ve never worked on before. I’m talking about the manga that I just made. I tried to finish it this year. All my life I’ve wanted to make films and just something else aside from music. But yeah, it’s always nerve-wracking when you are coming back onstage for the first time in a while. Especially for someone like me who is always in his house, seeing so many people can be a little stressful but yeah, it’s my job.
How do you think you’ve been able to deal with the nerves over the years?
So the thing is I wear glasses, so I don’t see when I’m on stage. I think that’s the best thing honestly. If I could see, I’d be focusing on too many things. Not being able to see much of what is going on helps me be present and just be myself.
Do you have any favourite memories from performing on stage?
I feel like that was Paris. Everything about my Paris show was insane. It felt like I was with every Santi fan in the world. It didn’t matter what I did, everyone loved it. It was fucking crazy.
Still speaking about live shows, do you think they affect your music-making process in any way? Do you think of how your songs will translate live while creating them?
Oh yeah, for sure. In the past year, I think I started experimenting more with live music. Also, I think in the scope of where my mind is right now, a lot of my songs are kind of indie and they’ll be great live. When I make a song, I definitely think of how it will sound live. Right now, I’m even trying to build a band with like two girls who could have background vocals but for all the crazy stuff that I say sometimes.
This year’s ART X Live! looked to connect the dots between the past and present sounds of Nigeria. How much of an influence do you think these indigenous sounds have on your ever-evolving sound?
First off, I think homegrown music is the foundation of my music. I don’t think I’ll be able to make anything if not for that. It’s crazy because I know a lot of people think my music has more foreign influences. The thing is, foundationally, I’m brought up on all the sounds and songs that a lot of us grew up listening to. But also, I have a distinct thirst for music in general and I just want to hear different stuff. I wake up every day thinking what is this new thing I can make? In fact, I think right now, a lot of the stuff I’m making is heavily influenced by local music. It’s deeply rooted in the Mo’Hits, 2shotz, BigLo, Sauce Kid, Naeto C era.
The thing is, some people might see this as nostalgia but then I play it for some of my younger friends and they have no idea where some of the influences come from. What’s crazier is that no one has progressed these sounds or tried something new with them.
Speaking of progressing sounds, is that what the goal is generally with your music?
I’m not gonna lie to you, the reason why I don’t make the same thing is because progression is all that matters to me. It’s a gift and a curse but I don’t care about anything else. It’s like making a film. Your new film has to be better than your last film but it shouldn’t be the same thing you made before. Music is like the same thing to me.
Keep reading...
