The Story

Laughter Became My Freedom is a portrait of joy as resistance. As medicine. As survival.

A boy smiles from the center of the canvas — not politely, but fully, almost defiantly. His eyes squint in bliss, his face wrinkled in the kind of expression only real, unrehearsed laughter creates. Behind and beneath him, a second child emerges — faceless, incomplete — as though joy itself is something we’re still learning how to wear.

This piece, rendered in raw charcoal on a blazing orange canvas, captures the essence of freedom in the everyday. In a world that often told young Black boys how to sit, speak, behave, and hide — Macanjy offers something else:

A moment where nothing is hidden. Where the smile is real.

The facelessness of the second figure reflects how joy is often felt before it’s claimed — before we even know we deserve it. This work is both memory and metaphor. It speaks for the times you laughed simply because someone else gave you permission to exist as you are.

It is the laughter that survived disappointment.
It is the freedom that didn’t wait for permission.
It is boyhood, unchained.

Collections: SILENT NARRATIVE: ehoes of the unseen

Subject Matter: Black Boyhood, Friendship, Childhood Resilience, Emotional Bonding, Neurodivergence, Growing Up in Nigeria

Current Location: Avant Garde Gallery Toronto

Credits

Anjola Adeniji