Kévin-Ademola Sangosanya

Through my work, I question my identity on both a personal and a societal level. I am also interested in the experience of embodied life through ideas such as the quest for self, transcendence, and the concept of àṣẹ (a force of agency and a central philosophical principle in Yorùbá culture). My work is part of broader reflections on the Black Atlantic.

Of French and Yoruba origin, Kevin-Ademola Sangosanya was born in Longjumeau, Essonne, in 1996. Although the environment in which he grew up did not intend him to become an artist, with his mother being a scientist from a working-class background and his father, a Nigerian immigrant and former soldier, he felt a vital need to draw all day long from a very young age.

His mother encouraged him to take drawing lessons after college, but as he mostly painted monsters and dinosaurs, he was quickly directed towards a scientific career. At the age of 15, he wanted to become a paleontologist and then a geneticist specializing in endangered species. His love for Nigeria, where he had traveled very often since childhood to visit his grandparents, led him to focus on endangered gorillas. Thinking that the best way to protect them would be to allow them to live in an environment where they would not be hunted, he decided after his baccalaureate to focus on sustainable development and began studying agronomy engineering. At the age of 17, he discovered independence and student life. He left the family nest to move closer to Paris and settled in a residence in Cergy.

He did many internships abroad as part of his studies, including his graduation internship, where he spent 8 months in Nigeria working on the conservation of forest species, reforestation, and the study of medicinal plants, food, and sacred objects, which link the three areas that fascinate him: the preservation of culture, the sustenance of populations, and spirituality.

In parallel to these strong experiences, he found it difficult to settle for a simple life as a student in the suburbs. He quickly felt a void in his life that he did not see in his comrades. From his second year, he resumed drawing and then quickly began doing graffiti under the pseudonym of “Lonely Jane”. His graffiti-poems enjoyed growing success, but to go even further, he compulsively picked up objects in the street, which became multiple supports for the creation of increasingly elaborate paintings-objects. But it was when he discovered the works of Kehinde Wiley, Kerry James Marshall, and Jean-Michel Basquiat that he really clicked. The stereotype he carried in him of the artist as necessarily being an old white man was swept away. “At that time, I said, OK, it’s good, you’ve had the thing in you since the beginning, it’s been several months since it started boiling, you started doing graffiti, drawing, picking up stuff, now you have to go all out… I understood that it wasn’t just a hobby, that there, it was devouring me not to create.” He began to present his works in neighborhood exhibitions, and then in 2017, he was selected to participate in the “Emerging Artists” exhibition at the Carreau de Cergy. After obtaining his engineering degree in tropical agronomy, he also joined the Ateliers REZOEST in Pré-Saint-Gervais. His very personal work centers on the quest for oneself and the reflection on one’s own identity.

First of all, there’s the question of “Who am I?” Kevin-Ademola Sangosanya is aware that our identity is still influenced by factors such as gender, age, and culture, and he believes that only art can help him transcend these limitations. As a young, black, mixed-race man with a dual cultural identity and a negative image of African culture and identity, he feels it’s important to examine his mixed-race identity by exploring its origins and creating a new language that provides unprecedented access to it. “When I was younger, I felt a lot of anger, an energy that I couldn’t channel. I realized that this frustration came from the fact that I could express much more complex ideas in French or in English than in Yoruba, and when thought is slowed down, and you don’t have the tools, this frustration leads to anger.” To address this, he pursued professional training for a Yoruba Language diploma at INALCO to deepen his understanding of the language while developing his own visual language that incorporates various symbolic elements such as nails, cowrie shells, writing, and materials that he creates himself from plants or found objects.

Trainings :

2019-2022: Studies and vocational training, Diploma in Languages. Yoruba. INALCO. (In progress).
2020-2021: REZOEST workshops. Le-Pre-Saint-Gervais.
2015-2019: Engineering degree in tropical agronomy. Tropical Plant Production. ISTOM.

Solo Exhibitions

2024

MEDICINES TO DIE. Open Studio. Villa Belleville, Paris.

2022

I Know the Value of Fear, Galerie Loft, Paris

Objects in Motion Will Stay in Motion / An In-depth Conversation with the Ori. Galerie La La Lande, Paris

Group Exhibitions

2025

Group Show “La Constellation de Monsieur S”, Galerie Eric Mouchet, Brussels, Belgium

Group exhibition, At First Sight, Galerie Loft, Paris, France

2024

Arte Povera. Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris

DEATH. Rubezh, Tbilisi

Strike the Iron Until It Glows Red. Villa Belleville, Paris

The Artist’s Life, Le Shakirail, Paris

Duo Show with Liên Hoàng-Xuân, Last Peep Show Before Summer, Galerie Loft, Paris

Brown Behaviour, Mur de Frappe, Paris

The Earth Is Blue Like an Orange, Galerie Loft, Paris

2023

Progressions and Contemporary Retreats around Vodou, IESA Arts & Culture, Paris

Prix décembre in Montreuil, Tour Orion, Montreuil

AKAA Art Fair, Paris

BAD+ Art Fair, Bordeaux

2022

“Soul & Body”, Galerie Loft, Paris, France

Duo Show with Raphaëlle Bertran and Kévin-Ademola Sangosanya, Galerie Loft, Paris, France

2021

A Child Who Speaks in the Womb Gives Birth to Itself. Ateliers REZOEST, Le Pré Saint-Servais

Leitmotiv, Galerie La La Lande, Paris

First Canvas, Galerie La La Lande, Paris

Residencies, Le Consulat Voltaire, Paris

Biennale 109, Bastille Design Center, Paris

2019

A Kind of Magic, Mémoire et l’Avenir, Paris

2017

René Clément Bayer Salon, Samoreau

Emerging Artists, Le Carreau de Cergy, Cergy-Pontoise

2016

Jean-Pierre Mastelinck Salon, Bois-le-Roi

Residencies

2025

Oficina Solar, Brazil

2024

Le PréàVie, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais

Villa Belleville, Paris

2023

Carbone 17, Aubervilliers

2020–2022

Le Consulat Voltaire, Paris

2020–2021

Ateliers REZOEST, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais

Awards & Grants

2025

Finalist, Prix Sheds

2024

ADIAF-Catawiki Emergence Grant

2022

Taylor Prize, Prize Commission of the Taylor Foundation at the Biennale

Education

BA in Yorùbá (DL3), INALCO, 2024

Engineering degree in Tropical Agronomy, Specialization in Tropical Plant Production, ISTOM, 2019