In a landmark moment for Nigeria’s contemporary creative industry, Lagos-based visual artist and fine art photographer Mayowa Lawal has emerged as the first Nigerian fine art photographer to collaborate with global sportswear giant Adidas, marking a significant milestone for African visual culture on the international stage.
The collaboration, commissioned for the launch of Adidas’ flagship store in Lagos in 2025, represents far more than a commercial partnership. It signals a growing recognition of African visual storytelling and the increasing willingness of global brands to engage authentically with local cultural narratives through the work of homegrown creatives.
At just 24 years old, Lawal has rapidly established himself as one of Nigeria’s most compelling young visual artists, developing a distinctive artistic language that blends fine art, fashion, memory, and cultural identity through the expressive use of Ankara fabric.
Reimagining Lagos Through Fine Art
Self-taught and based in Lagos, Lawal has built a practice centered on documenting contemporary Nigerian life while drawing deeply from tradition. Working primarily with portraiture, he creates emotionally charged images that explore themes of identity, memory, belonging, and African material culture.
Known creatively as “Alánkará”—a name inspired by his longstanding engagement with Ankara textiles—Lawal transforms the familiar wax-print fabric into a powerful visual tool. Rather than using Ankara merely as costume or decoration, he employs it as a narrative medium, wrapping, layering, and sculpting fabric around his subjects to construct dreamlike scenes that blur the boundaries between fashion photography and fine art.
Born in 2002 and raised in Lagos, Lawal has frequently cited his upbringing as a major influence on his artistic development. Growing up in a home surrounded by textiles—his mother traded in fabrics including Ankara, lace, and Aso Oke—immersed him in colour, texture, and pattern from an early age. These experiences would later become central to his visual language.
“I don’t photograph what I see; I photograph what I feel,” Lawal has previously said, describing an artistic approach rooted in emotion, memory, and lived experience.
Adidas and the Power of Cultural Storytelling
For Adidas, commissioning Lawal for the opening of its Lagos flagship store represented a strategic embrace of local creativity and cultural authenticity.
The project drew on Lawal’s unique ability to capture the rhythm, colour, and spirit of Lagos. Through carefully staged portraits infused with symbolism and traditional textiles, the artist created a body of work that reflected the energy of Nigeria’s commercial capital while celebrating contemporary African identity. Reports surrounding the campaign described the collaboration as an artistic interpretation of Lagos culture, positioning the city itself as both backdrop and protagonist.
The partnership also underscores a broader shift within the global fashion and lifestyle industry, where international brands are increasingly collaborating with African artists whose practices are rooted in local histories and contemporary realities.
For Nigeria’s photography ecosystem, the collaboration is particularly significant. While Nigerian photographers have long gained international acclaim across documentary, fashion, and editorial fields, Lawal’s commission marks a rare instance in which a fine art photographer has been selected by a multinational sportswear company to shape the visual narrative of a major retail launch.
International Recognition Beyond Nigeria
Lawal’s rise has been swift, but it has been built upon years of experimentation and an unwavering commitment to his artistic vision.
His work has already travelled extensively beyond Nigeria. A solo exhibition titled “Alankara” was presented in Denmark, while other works have been exhibited in Italy. His images have also appeared on digital billboards in Tokyo’s famed Shibuya district, introducing his visual interpretations of African identity to audiences thousands of miles from Lagos.
International recognition has continued to grow through features on global platforms. Lawal’s photography has appeared on PhotoVogue, where his work has repeatedly been selected among the platform’s notable submissions. His practice has additionally attracted attention from publications, galleries, and digital art platforms interested in contemporary African image-making.
The artist’s images have also been highlighted by Apple and featured in international publications and independent art magazines, further cementing his position among a new generation of African visual storytellers redefining the possibilities of photography on the continent.
Creating Fine Art on an iPhone
Perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of Lawal’s practice is his choice of equipment.
In an era often dominated by discussions of increasingly sophisticated cameras and expensive production technologies, Lawal frequently creates his acclaimed images using an iPhone. His process challenges conventional assumptions about artistic production, demonstrating that compelling visual storytelling depends more on imagination, concept, and emotional depth than on equipment alone.
This approach has resonated strongly with younger African creatives, many of whom view Lawal as evidence that world-class artistic work can emerge from accessible tools when paired with originality and vision.
His practice further reflects the democratization of contemporary photography across Africa, where mobile technologies are expanding access to image-making and enabling a new generation of artists to reach global audiences.
A New Generation of African Image-Makers
Lawal belongs to a vibrant generation of Nigerian artists using photography to interrogate history, identity, and culture while simultaneously reshaping global perceptions of Africa.
Rather than reproducing familiar narratives, his work offers nuanced, emotionally rich portrayals of contemporary African life—images that are simultaneously rooted in tradition and oriented toward the future.
As international institutions, brands, and audiences increasingly look toward Africa for new visual languages and cultural perspectives, Mayowa Lawal’s trajectory suggests that the continent’s next generation of artists will not simply participate in global conversations; they will help define them.
His historic collaboration with Adidas is therefore more than a personal achievement. It is a testament to the growing influence of African creative voices and a reminder that some of the world’s most compelling visual stories continue to emerge from Lagos.
images: Mayowa Lawal
