The Story

Ọmọdé Kò Sọ̀rọ̀ is a tribute to the unspoken childhoods of many Nigerian boys raised on survival instead of sensitivity. The child’s eyes confront the viewer with unfiltered innocence — not naïveté, but a rawness born of watching too much, too early.

Raised on the dusty corners of Mile 2 and Egbeda, Macanjy paints this figure not as a child merely seen — but as one shaped by the city’s noise, but not its nurture. The swirls in the background evoke ancestral whispers, street dust, and untold histories — the chaos behind the calm.

The burnt orange garment, reminiscent of Yoruba aṣọ-òkè or market-bought knitwear, becomes a symbol of inherited identity — imperfect, worn, yet dignified. The child doesn’t speak in this portrait — but the silence is full, ancestral, and watching.

This work is a visual incantation. It remembers the weight of being misunderstood. It asks: “What becomes of a boy who only knew how to hold it in?”

Part of the Silent Narrative collection, this is not just a painting — it is a confrontation with the consequences of cultural silence and the spiritual resilience hidden behind young, Yoruba eyes.

Collections: SILENT NARRATIVE: ehoes of the unseen

Subject Matter: Black Childhood, Yoruba Identity, Silence, Emotional Repression, Inner Strength, Traditional Culture

Current Location: Avant Garde Gallery Toronto

Credits

Anjola Adeniji