Art x Adẹ

This painting reflects the harsh reality of life in the cotton fields during slavery, where men and women laboured under relentless conditions. The heavy white cotton dominates the landscape, symbolising both the burden of forced labour and the economic wealth built upon their suffering. At the centre stand two figures, weary yet dignified. Their bowed heads speak of exhaustion, but their upright bodies speak of resilience. Behind them, the vast field stretches endlessly, watched over by distant authority, while above them the burning sunset sky glows in deep red and gold. The sky is significant. It represents time: moving, unbroken, and eternal. Though oppression surrounded them, the same sun that witnessed their suffering also bore testament to their endurance. This work is not about blame. It is about remembrance. It honours the strength of those who endured, who survived, and who carried forward the human spirit under the weight of history.

In 2004, I founded Minicabanywhere.com, a location-based minicab dispatch concept built on geospatial intelligence. The idea did not start in a boardroom. It started with observation. A friend of mine was running a minicab business in Elephant and Castle. By watching the daily operations, the phone calls, address confusion, dispatch delays, and inefficiencies, I began to see a pattern. I realised that the real problem was not the drivers. It was the lack of spatial precision. At the time, smartphones did not exist in the way we know them today. App-based ride-hailing was unheard of. Yet I believed technology could remove friction from the system. Using MapInfo Professional, UPRN (Unique Property Reference Numbers), and advanced geocoding techniques, I mapped every identifiable property within Southwark Council. The model allowed: • Every property to be digitally identified at the touch of a button • A central 0800 number for passengers • Any registered minicab with...

In this work, red is not just a background.  It is a force descending unapologetically, shaping and reshaping everything beneath it. What began as structure in black and white becomes transformed under the authority of colour. The drips are not accidents; they are evidence of movement, of emergence, of energy asserting itself. This painting was not constructed so much as witnessed. As the red evolved across the canvas, it revealed the primal power of colour, demontrating how it governs space, alters meaning, and gives birth to new form. What lies beneath is not erased but redefined. Here, creation is not gentle; it is dynamic, pressing forward, breaking through and becoming. Breaking Forth is a meditation on transformation on the moment when energy overtakes restraint and something new insists on being seen. It is an exploration of colour as agency, of change, of evolution in motion, and of the quiet awe that comes from watching creation shape itself.

Medium: Acrylic on Wood Size: 36" x 24" Year: 2026 Artist: Matthew Medupin This painting captures a solemn procession beneath a troubled sunset sky with figures bound together, walking into an uncertain and imposed fate. Their identities are rendered in silhouette, not to diminish them, but to reflect the cruel erasure that slavery imposed upon countless African lives. The diagonal movement of the figures suggests inevitability of a forced journey with no choice of direction. The chains, delicately highlighted against dark forms, symbolise both physical bondage and the collective weight of history carried across generations. The sunset, often a symbol of transition and hope in my work, is here subdued and distant. Its fading light contrasts sharply with the darkness of human injustice, reminding us that beauty in nature does not always mirror justice in humanity. This piece does not attempt to dramatise suffering. Instead, it bears quiet testament to endur...

In this abstract landscape, a radiant angel breaks through a turbulent sky and descends toward the earth below. Rendered in thick, luminous white impasto, the heavenly figure dominates the composition, its wings outstretched in both authority and compassion. The textured paint gives the angel a sculptural presence, as though emerging from light itself. Beneath this divine visitation, shadowed figures move across rolling hills and open terrain. Their dark silhouettes contrast sharply with the brilliance above, suggesting humanity in journey. The sky churns with layered blues, greens, and earth tones, reflecting the tension of the human condition. Yet the descending messenger signals intervention, protection, and hope. Heaven is not distant; it is drawing near. This work explores the sacred meeting point between the spiritual and the earthly.This is a reminder that even in uncertainty, divine presence hovers over the landscape of life.

One of my favourite acronyms is TEAM — Together Everyone Achieves More. A powerful example of this in action is my ongoing art project: a master collage made up of over 35 individually painted, sunset-themed abstract pieces, all stitched together onto a five-square-metre linen fabric. The painting itself was the easy part. The real challenge was the stitching. I had never done any stitching before, so this was unfamiliar territory. That was when I needed help. Grace’s experience became invaluable. She patiently taught me the process. At first, it was awkward — I kept pricking my fingers with the needle, and as I am still struggling with my vision due recent cataract surgeries in both eyes, even threading the needle was no small task. But with Grace in the driving seat, what seemed daunting became doable. What felt slow and frustrating suddenly moved with rhythm and speed. That is the beauty of TEAM. Where one person struggles, another strengthens. Where one hesitates, another gui...