Aworan is the Yoruba word for image, picture, likeness. When I needed a name for the collection that would hold seven years of my artistic journey, I didn't reach for English. I reached for home.
A word that carries a worldview
In Yoruba thought, an image is never only decoration — it carries presence. A photograph of a person holds something of that person. Naming my collection Aworan was a commitment: every frame must carry presence, story and spirit, not just composition. You can walk through the entire collection in the Aworan collection.
Between Lagos and London
I make work between two cities and two selves — the Nigerian who grew up surrounded by colour, ceremony and community, and the London artist working in monochrome silence. Pieces like WOMAN, with its golden beads and headwrap, and Iya Laje, shown at the RBSA Summer Show, come directly from that first self. The full journey between both cities is on my exhibitions page.
I am a student of media, as much as I am a student of life and photography. My works are a reflection of that — in the form of images.
Composed art and real-life art
Aworan holds two kinds of images. Composed art is built — studio pieces like Liquid Serenity and Ascension, where every drop of water and beam of light is intentional. Real-life art is found — a parent and child on a shoreline in Eternal Bond, the Eiffel Tower burning gold in Eternal Glow. The tension between building images and finding them is, I think, where my voice lives.
Why heritage matters in contemporary art
African artists are often asked to translate themselves for Western walls. Aworan refuses the translation. The work travels — London, Lagos, and international media coverage collected on press and awards — but the name stays Yoruba, un-italicised in my mind, requiring the viewer to come to it.
Aworan 2.0 is coming to Nigeria soon — follow the announcements on the Aworan page on Camera Boss or via @Johnlekan on Instagram. And if you want to read how it all began, start with my story.
Work with me. For fine-art prints and exhibition enquiries, contact me here. For weddings, editorial and lifestyle photography across the UK and Nigeria, visit CameraBoss.co.uk.