First Light, Last Breath

Medium

Giclée on paper

Year

2026

First Light, Last Breath lays a single female figure on her back on the floor, arms crossed over her chest in the classical funerary posture, but her eyes are open and directed upward. She wears full Yoruba iro and buba in deep orange silk spread around her body like a sunburst, and her skull paint is in brilliant white. The composition is shot from slightly above so the full length of the body is visible, feet nearest the camera, head at the top of the frame. From each of her crossed hands resting on her chest, a single white lily grows upward, two stems crossing, two flowers opening at the top of the frame. This is a one of one original piece, the only work of its kind anywhere in the world, a mixed media fine art work of photography and digital art, Giclée printed on museum quality 310gsm Textured Fine Art Cotton Rag. A formally beautiful and emotionally precise Nigerian painting. Available at Naija Art Store.