Motherhood has long been a source of inspiration for artists, who beautifully capture its essence through their works. Recently, we came across several stunning pieces by Nigerian artists that celebrate motherhood in various ways. While these works were not created specifically for Mothering Sunday, they resonate deeply with the universal themes of love, strength, and care that define mothers everywhere.
With that being said, here are three of our favourite works and the stories behind their creations.
Victoria Ndubuisi – Blessed Womb
Victoria Ndubuisi is a Nigerian artist who blends realism and abstraction in many of her works. She grew up in Badagry and later studied Fine Art at Yaba College of Technology. Inspired by African dance, she developed a distinctive marbling technique, adding a sense of movement and emotion to her paintings. Her art often touches on themes like identity, motherhood, and spiritual growth.
Her painting, Blessed Womb, is a key piece in her solo exhibition Ọmụgwụo, currently holding at the Nomadic Art Gallery. The artwork, measuring 122 x 99 cm, reflects her personal experience of motherhood while honoring the communal traditions of her Igbo heritage.
“As an igbo woman, ọmụgwọ is a very important practice that we offer new moms, which helps them learn how to nurture and care for their babies.” – Victoria Ndubuisi (Art Network Africa)
Marcellina Akpojotor – Weekend with Grandma
Marcellina Akpojotor is a Nigerian artist celebrated for her innovative use of Ankara fabric in her collaged paintings. Growing up in Lagos, she was introduced to art by her father, a sign painter, and later developed her own style by incorporating scraps of fabric into her work. Her art often focuses on the experiences of women across generations.
The artist’s painting Weekend with Grandma (2022) is a popular piece that depicts her mother with her two children on a balcony, gazing at the horizon. The figures are intricately formed using small pieces of Ankara fabric, charcoal on paper, and acrylic on canvas, measuring 96 x 76 inches.
“I explore my great-grandmother’s legacy which was her wish for formal education and how the women in my family are breaking the barriers one generation at a time. There is also the idea of intergenerational care and dialogue, which you see in Weekend with Grandma (2022),”- Marcellina Akpojotor (The London Magazine)
Njideka Akunyili Crosby – Mother and Child
Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a Nigerian-born artist who is renowned for her mixed-media works that explore themes of family and cultural heritage. Growing up in Nigeria, she was deeply influenced by the traditions and everyday life around her. Later, she moved to the United States, where she studied fine art and developed her signature style.
Akunyili Crosby combines painting, photography, and collage techniques to tell layered and deeply personal stories. Furthermore, her works often celebrate familial bonds while touching on the complexities of dual cultural identities.
Her painting Mother and Child (2016) is a deeply intimate piece, inspired by a photograph of her maternal grandmother holding the artist’s youngest aunt as a baby. Akunyili Crosby had also lost her own mother and was expecting her first child while working on the 243.2 x 315.6 cm painting.
“If you think of this room in Mother and Child, there’s the front space where the couch and the table is, that ends with the fabric wall, and then there’s another space that goes beyond that which has the blue wall leading to the door and then the space behind. It almost feels like in each shift in space I switch to a different kind of painting language.”- Njideka Akunyili Crosby (The White Review)
Overall, the beauty of these artworks is that they portray the everyday acts of grace and sacrifice that mothers embody. After all, celebrating motherhood isn’t limited to a single day; it’s a lifelong ode to the women who shape our world.
