Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju Crucifixion, 2023

Crucifixion is a multimedia painting consisting of oil, acrylic, glue, pastel, a pendant of the Virgin Mary, charcoal, and plants on canvas.

The painting has a central figure of a Black woman positioned as if lying down with her legs together and arms reaching outwards in either direction. The figure is depicted with extreme foreshortening such that her legs appear much larger than her head, which nearly disappears into a small black circle towards the center of the painting. Encircling the figure are different collaged elements, such as leaves and a pendant of the Virgin Mary.

Writing about the painting prior to its inclusion in Ilupeju’s solo exhibition Saint V. in 2023, curator Miriam Bettin wrote about the painting that it “presents a transcendental state of body and mind in which the nude figure dissolves into a void that is more than the end or nothingness. Rather, it is a void that opens new possibilities. The void is a space of uncertainty but also of transformation. Ilupeju’s works have the transgressive potential to turn loss and discomfort into beauty, to befriend the unknown, and to ultimately fill the void with renewed ideas and restored faith.”