My first international solo exhibition, “Quasiii—PortalsUponPortals”, continued my exploration and reinterpretation of the angel as a threshold entity, this time intertwining it with various phenomena. One of the key elements of this exploration was externalizing human bodily systems, linking them to the emotions they induce, and embodying this in the design of these entities. This concept took form in both my "FlutterPulse" and “FLAME TEST!” series, which were the central works of the exhibition.

“FlutterPulse” allows the body to spill itself out, tethering its organs and systems to the emotions that they evoke. The pulse of your gut, the flutter of your heart, the light that flickers from inside — an externalization of what you’ve felt, buried, and tried to constrain. These angels contort and reach outward, as if the body can no longer contain what’s inside — light, rhythm, organ, skin — each layer revealing more, tearing through in fleeting moments. The angels of “FlutterPulse” are the grotesque embodiments of these internalized complexities — warping in ways that echo both fragility and power. Through these depictions the body is no longer just a vessel: it unfolds into a map, a legend that speaks and guides the tension between the intimate and the unseen, externalized.

“FLAME TEST!” maneuvers the tension between transformation and discomfort, capturing the suffocating heat of change that is both invasive and invigorating. I employ a visual language of flames, glazes, and morphing forms to symbolize the almost primal desire to adapt, evolve, and sometimes burn in the process. The angels of “FLAME TEST!” embody the unsettling oscillations of self-reflection — how we move through change, how it tightens and scorches, testing our limits and thresholds. A wink to the flame tests of chemistry, where elements burn in varied hues based on their respective compositions, “FLAME TEST!” grapples with how we burn along a full spectrum of corporeal shifts and emotive states, from searing sanguines to tranquil teals. These flames become catalysts that seep through the body, the psyche, and the spaces around it.

The show title “Quasiii—PortalsUponPortals” reflects the exhibition's conceptual and visual variety. While the works were conceptually disparate in some ways, they were bound by a central thread: the reconfiguration of the semiotics in Christian iconography as well as precolonial Nigerian spiritual practice into more autonomous, singular expressions — liberated from their original contexts. The themes in the show acted as doorways or portals — each one offering a new pathway for ongoing explorations and future works, extending beyond the exhibition itself.