OSUN

OSUN, Yoruba deity of fresh water, beauty, feminine strength and spiritual renewal. The human half of my portrait is lush with flowers, warmth and living creatures; while the right is formed from a peacock’s plumage, rendered through meticulous linework and stippling. The peacock inferenced here embodies her vanity, beauty and royal nature; the spiritual force of Osun.

The split between realism and abstraction is first employed to differentiate between the real and spiritual halves of the deity. But then it also allowed me to twist in a canon force to enhance her spiritual half: Illustrating with a precision that requires patience to achieve.

Osun’s legacy extends far beyond West Africa. The worship of Osun [Oxum in Brazil, and Ochun in Cuba] extends across the Atlantic as the enduring symbol of divine femininity, resilience, continuous renewal, duality, fertility and divine transformation