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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Featured Image Credits/Yusuff Aina
