A-ARTs: Beyond profession, art represents Temi's voice

'Imperfect Me' (acrylic on canvas, 35 x 47, dated 2025) by Temi OG.

By Ola Alowoloke

With her 'Temi OG' signature, artist Temitope Victoria Ogunwale, who emerged through self-taught process brushes against emotional confinement.

Every artist takes their inspiration from somewhere, immediate or distant environment. Temi has her own side of inspirational factor. "I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. Growing up in Lagos shaped a lot of how I see the world: the resilience, the noise, the strength in people, and the quiet struggles nobody talks about."

Before getting to the inspirational stage of her career, how did Temi pick art? "I didn’t study art formally. In fact, art was something I did playfully when I was younger. I would draw without thinking too much about it. It was just something that felt natural to me."

Despite the gradual starting point, passively, Temi never envisioned taking up fine art as a career. "But I didn’t take art seriously until 2021," she recalled. And then something tragic happened that changed everything. "I lost a friend, and that loss almost broke me. It was one of those moments that shakes your entire existence. I almost gave up on life. I almost dropped many of the things I was doing. Everything felt heavy, meaningless. I was struggling mentally I had experienced depression and anxiety before, and during that period, it felt overwhelming."

And came the COVID 19 lockdown, which energized her skills. "Then the lockdown came. During that time, I came across the works of Kelvin Okafor. I was deeply moved by how hyper realistic his drawings were. The way he captured faces with every pore, every wrinkle, every imperfection...it felt alive. And I realized something about myself: I have always been drawn to faces."

Temi's choice of genre in portrait, particularly realism painting, has its roots in her growing up as a keen observer of people's photographs. "Even before then, whenever I looked at portrait photographs, I wasn’t just seeing a person, but studying the face, the beauty and the flaws existing together. The softness. The scars. The truth. There is something powerful about how a face can hold both strength and vulnerability at the same time."

Art for Temi goes beyond impressing people with her skills. "Seeing that kind of realism made me want to learn. I wanted to understand how to draw realistically not just to impress people, but to capture truth. I wanted to portray the flaws and the beauty exactly as they are. That was the beginning of my intentional journey."

From the background of innocent and curious energy, the professionalism in Temi grew into personal expressions. "As I grew, my work evolved from just faces to the human body. I started creating figurative pieces because the body speaks too. The body carries trauma, memory, silent, and battles." And with bold strokes in "nudity and vulnerability, I began exploring mental health, internal struggles, and the emotional weight people carry but rarely express."

She empathized that her experiences with depression and anxiety shaped the emergence of her artistic voice, very deeply. She added that her artistic expressions became more than style and technique, but turned out as a therapy. In fact, art, for Temi, grew into confrontation, and survival against suppression.

Coming from self-taught background into Lagos art environment where mainstream art galleries have their preferred artists, Temi still took off fairly. With supports of her parents, she started selling her art through family-friend connections.

"I am fortunate to have very supportive parents. I know that is not everyone’s reality, and I do not take it for granted. My dad, especially, has been incredibly supportive as most of my art materials were bought by him. I am deeply grateful for that kind of belief and backing. It made the journey less lonely.

"My first sale happened around 2020/2021. I created a piece titled “Fajewa Mary,”...though I can’t fully remember now. It was purchased by a friend of my mum’s friend. That moment meant everything to me. Someone saw my work, connected with it, and decided it was valuable enough to own. I was overwhelmed with gratitude."

With her first sale, there came the courage to explore the world of art market. "In 2022, I joined the NFT (non-fungible tokens) space and made some sales there as well, which opened my eyes to the digital side of art and global visibility."

Currently, the artist in Temi has become more bold with energetic statements that bring so much to get curious about her art. "Today, I create because I understand what it feels like to struggle internally. I create because I know what it means to battle your mind. I create because vulnerability is powerful, not weak. My work is rooted in the human condition, the emotional, psychological, and silent aspects of being alive."

And if there is a particular phrase that summarises Temi's unfolding career, here is it. "Art didn’t just become my profession; it became my voice."

Temi attended Assfood International College and later went on to study Accounting at Oduduwa University, where she earned a BSc in Accounting.

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