PGI's November Girl: Laju
One toasty warm Saturday afternoon in Lagos and by contrast a windy fall day in Madison, i had the awesome pleasure of chatting with the beautiful and talented Utseoritselaju Omagbitse Joanne (popularly known as Laju) via FaceTime. We have no photos from this event because we both were in Saturday-chill-mode. Pardon us.
Laju is a successful Lagos-based artist who has been sketching and painting for as long as she can remember. Last September, she had her first art exhibition themed: "Woman in Bloom" along with other artists who were involved in this event, which sought to contribute to the discussion on the process of self-actualization for the woman in a typically patriarchal society. It's wonderful knowing people who use their talent and passion to develop and improve their community. It's what we all strive to do. It's what we are all made for.
Let's meet Laju!
Hey, Laju! What's "Laju" short for and what does it mean?
Utseoritselaju which means the work of the Lord is too great
Where are you from?
Warri, Delta State, Nigeria
What is your morning app sequence?
Hmm… Instagram, WhatsApp or iMessage…. Instagram…again.. *laughs*
What do you do?
I'm a banker with Heritage Bank
Describe your art?
My art is mostly acrylics on canvas. I started with charcoal but then again, i love color! Right now though, i paint acrylics on canvas.
Acrylic paintings dry fast and that works for me. Oil paint is beautiful but I'm not that patient. *laughs* I'm thinking about working with charcoal and acrylics.
I work with female subjects, i find them easy to relate to and for now, African females because the color of our skin is just beautiful in real life and on canvas!
How and when did you start painting?
I actually started very young. I remember in primary school, I’d draw match-stick people, then they evolved into box-like images. I was always fascinated by the cartoon images I saw on TV, and wondered why I couldn’t make my drawings look like the cartoons, so i'd trace directly from the TV or from Archie comic books. That really helped. And of course, my art teacher in college, class mates and even family recognized my talent and kept urging me to do better. Over time, I’ve nurtured this skill and improved on my style and techniques
Most interesting muse?
I’d say female mannequins. I fell in love with them recently; the fragility of their posture amazes me. They've opened my mind up to a thousand ideas. Hopefully you’ll get to see what I come up with in my future artworks
What does your creative work space look like?
*laughs* That’s funny because my work space is my bed and the floor of my room…. That’s where the magic happens. Haha. To answer your question, Newpapers on the floor of my bedroom.
What do you do when you have a creative block?
I just stay away from trying to paint or sketch, because the more I try, the more I end up making everything worse…which is deeply depressing, although, sometimes I go online and view thousands of images related to the ideas I had in my head, to come up with something unique. *laughs*. Apart from these two, I just lay in my bed and stare at my ceiling.
But on a more serious note though , what works most times is staying away completely, it helps me cool off and also gives me a different perspective on my work
Art-crushing on this John Madu painting
What are your creative work must-haves?
An old piece of cloth to clean my brushes, my iPad/phone to refer to my saved ideas or the internet for clarification (when I get stuck)
Longest & Shortest time taken to complete a work
Longest, 1 month; Shortest, 4 hours
I am in love with this sketch
Default nail polish color
I usually don’t paint my nails *covers face* but if i had to choose, nude or purple
Who is(are) your greatest support system?
Family and close friends. They make me believe in myself
What song describes you at 5.30am?
Don’t wake me up by Chris Brown
I'm more of a 6am person
Quirkiest thing about you?
I like to sleep with the lights on. When I wake up in the middle of the night and there isn't power, I turn on the flashlight of my phone and fall asleep
Favorite cake flavor?
Red velvet
Favorite artist
Joseph Eze, Sara Golish, Nelson Makamo
Most frequent Lagos-traffic purchase?
Plantain chips, Super Yogo! *laughs*
Most random Lagos-traffic purchase?
A paint brush which wasn't really made for art but I used it anyway!
Do you love Lagos?
Yes! I love the people, they are lively and it's modern
What would you say to anyone considering painting your form of art?
Go for it!
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Thank you, Laju, for being our first PGI Girl! Love you Loads!
Get your bespoke acrylics on canvas paintings by Laju this Christmas!
Email: laluch.art@gmail.com
Phone: +2348170789192
Instagram: @laluch_
A shot from the September "Woman in Bloom" exhibition
24 fun things to know about Nigerians (P.s And 1 reason to have one as a friend)
It's cute and exhaustingly amusing when someone from another country tells me "Hey, you speak really good English" or when they think suddenly in their minds "EBOLA!" and begin to panic, just because i said i'm Nigerian (hehe) or when they think "Hmmm" and immediately activate their Inspector gadget Internet-fraud sensors. The best is when they think we are terrorists. Someone actually once referred to us (to my face) as "You terrorists!" LOL! I love foreigners. I'll be honest, i thought about hitting him over the head with the pack of pasta i was holding but then 1) It was a rare pasta that i usually buy from Italy 2) You really can't beat ignorance out of anyone 3) He was much shorter than i was (i might have been whisked away by the police for child abuse before they understood that he was actually 35). However, what can i say, we all are ignorant at some time or the other (e.g. my sore disappointment whenever i'm on Baker street and I don't run into Sherlock Holmes or whenever i'm in New York and i don't run into the cast of friends, so hey.)
when someone asks how I learnt to speak English
Here's the truth, the typical Nigerian has no interest in terrorism, communicates excellently and is quite the culinary beast. If you aren't friends with us for any reason, at least, for the sake of your olfactory and gustatory senses, make friends with one Nigerian!
Happy Independence day, baby!!!
Fun things to know about Nigerians:
We don't really believe in snacking (our snacks look like meals)
We don't eat food without meat. Lol!
We respect the elderly
We don't act up when we drink. We don't know why. No falling in the gutters, no puking, nothing. We just breath in the alcohol.
We are awesome drivers! We make it work without traffic lights, floor markings, reflectors or street lights. So to all my people who have failed their driving tests in diaspora, We Shall Rise!
We can tell if you are not from Nigeria and we don't even have to speak to you to know
We really are very clever
We make amazing jollof rice #NigerianJollof
We know there's a God and he hooks us up
We love the familiar but we appreciate the foreign (We actually like foreigners, maybe too much)
We aren't all shafty and dodgy internet fraudsters
We love to dance! You have no idea
Our fight/flight system is off the hiz (does anyone even say that anymore, it was such a good adjective)
We love football
We thrive. We live in the most remote parts of the world. Ok that's stretching it, Iceland , Antartica.... all stretches. We thrive anywhere that promises economic prosperity.
We have a good ear for music
We drive a hard bargain. It's almost embarrassing
We have coded in our DNA the entrepreneurial gene; here, there, there, enough said
We discipline our kids, no back-talk or you get a back-hand
We make amazing Jollof rice (did i say this already? You bet i did, i'll say it again We make amazing jolly...even autocorrect be hating...JOLLOF rice!)
We can be naive and at the same time deeply cunning . Shrug, what can we say, it's a gift
We like nice things....very very very nice things
We dress up not down.
We DON'T enjoy extreme sports ; no bungee, mountaineering, hiking (less than a quarter mile will do)
Come on, love us will ya!
Add to the list! I know our traits are inexhaustible......