Building a Creative Career Between Africa and Europe

Nobody hands you a manual for running a creative career across two continents. You learn it by getting things wrong in two currencies. Nine years in — galleries in London, a solo show in Lagos, awards, commissions and a business that pays for the art — here is what I would tell a younger version of myself.

1. Let the commercial work fund the art, without apology

There is a snobbery that says commercial photography dilutes fine art practice. In my experience the opposite is true: the commercial side — weddings, editorial and lifestyle work through Camera Boss — pays for framing, submission fees, travel and time. It also sharpened my eye, because photographing chaos you cannot control teaches you to find images fast.

2. Build two audiences deliberately

African and European audiences respond differently, and neither is wrong. London engages quietly and buys through institutions; Lagos engages loudly and buys personally. I break the differences down properly in Lagos vs London. The mistake is assuming what works in one will translate untouched to the other.

3. Money: price for the market you're in, never below yourself

• Know your cost floor in both currencies — printing, framing, shipping, commission, tax.
• Undervaluing work at home devalues it abroad; collectors talk across borders now.
• Get paid in the currency your costs are in wherever possible, and budget for exchange loss.
• Editions and pricing structure matter more than instinct — see how to sell your first art print.

4. Logistics will humble you

Shipping framed work between continents is expensive, slow and nerve-testing. Print locally where you can, test printers months ahead, and never let a courier be the single point of failure between you and an opening. The rest of my pre-show routine is in my exhibition checklist.

5. Recognition compounds — use it, don't chase it

Creative Photographer of the Year in 2024, then Creative Visionary of the Year 2025/26 presented by the Lord Mayor of Westminster. Awards did not improve my work, but they opened doors and brought press — all archived on press and awards. My honest reckoning with what awards do and don't change is in do art awards matter.

Awards are weather. The work is climate. Build for the climate.

6. Teach, mentor, and build the ecosystem

A career built alone is fragile. Teaching — through photography classes at Camera Boss and mentorship — keeps my own thinking sharp and builds the network that later becomes opportunities. The diaspora argument for this is in African creatives as ambassadors.

7. Play a decade-long game

My path only makes sense in hindsight: a London group show led to a Lagos solo, which led to a sale, then summer exhibitions across England, then an award, then Bradford. None of it was planned; all of it was prepared for. The whole sequence is on my exhibitions page.

If you're building something similar and want to compare notes, get in touch — and start with my story if you want the story behind the work itself.