“Style is what happens when you’re not particularly thinking about style,” Anthony Azekwoh reflects, sitting back. “You’re just trying to convey exactly what it is that’s in your head.”
For the Lagos-based digital artist and author, what is inside his head has spent the last few years spilling out into the cultural zeitgeist, capturing the imagination of millions worldwide. From viral digital paintings to physical sculptures birthed from Nigerian soil, Azekwoh’s journey is a masterclass in creative evolution, handling the double-edged sword of internet virality, and redefining what it means to build a legacy on your own terms.
The Spark and the Pivot
Long before he was one of the most recognizable voices in contemporary African digital art, Azekwoh was a quiet, self-described awkward child who escaped into the pages of books. His obsession with stories eventually morphed into a desire to create them. He began writing at 13, picked up digital painting at 16, and quietly shared his creations on the internet.
Then came 2020.
In the middle of the global pandemic, a 20-year-old Azekwoh posted a digital painting titled The Red Man. It went violently viral.
“It just changed my life,” he recalls. “Millions of people were seeing my work, I’m selling prints… I was like, damn, maybe I can actually do this as a thing.”
But sudden internet fame presents its own terrain, especially for a young Nigerian creator. The Red Man became Azekwoh’s trial by fire. Instead of letting the overwhelming wave of attention dictate his next steps or trap him in a box, he used it as a baseline to learn the fundamentals of managing a public-facing career.
He didn’t want to just be the guy who painted the red picture; he wanted to tell deeper stories.
The Long, Disjointed Path to Perfection
To look at an Azekwoh piece is to look at a narrative frozen in time. Yet, the final execution is only a fraction of the work. Azekwoh reveals that his ideation process is often long, agonizing, and entirely disjointed.
“The ideation process lasts the longest,” he explains. “By the time I’ve sat down to start, that takes the shortest amount of time because I already have the image down. But that ideation process can last from a day, to weeks… sometimes it takes years.” His acclaimed series, The Wedding, for instance, was an idea he spent two years turning over in his mind, processing a period of intense personal heartbreak before ever putting pen to paper.
That raw honesty resonates. Whether he’s collaborating seamlessly with music stars like Young Jonn on hit album covers or releasing standalone personal pieces, the audience feels the humanity baked into the pixels.
Breaking the Digital Barrier: The Aunties and Sculpting in Nigeria
True visionaries rarely stay in one lane. Driven by a desire to challenge himself after getting bored with standard digital painting, Azekwoh turned his eyes toward a medium he had long dreamed of conquering: sculpture. Inspired by the intricate, dramatic planes of Italian master Gian Lorenzo Bernini, he began teaching himself a steep new skill set.
His latest frontier? The Aunties series—a collection of physical figures designed with the grace of classical Roman sculptures but infused with undeniable African flair.
“In every home, there’s always these people who are your aunties,” Azekwoh says. “You don’t know where they came from, you don’t know how they’re your aunties, but they’re always just there.”
More than just an artistic leap, The Aunties represented a massive logistical challenge. Azekwoh set a strict handicap for his team: the sculptures had to be made from start to finish on Nigerian soil, utilizing local materials and working alongside local artisans.
What followed was a year of grueling trial and error—investing in their own 3D printers, navigating local manufacturing limitations, and pushing through five separate bronze iterations just to get the signature features and metallic shine exactly right. The result is a series of tangible, high-quality art pieces that his audience can actually hold, own, and bring into their living rooms.
Defining Success Beyond the Metrics
When you’ve achieved international acclaim before your mid-twenties, your relationship with success inevitably shifts. For Azekwoh, the drive is no longer tied strictly to professional metrics or the next viral peak.
“Success to me… sounds crazy, but it’s just being able to go to bed and wake up and you’re at peace,” he says. “Nobody’s chasing you, you’re not chasing anybody. Your family is healthy, you’re healthy, things are okay. I treasure those things more now.”
Art remains his calling, a labor of love that keeps him anchored even on the hardest days when the stress mounts. By refusing to compromise on his medium, his roots, or his personal peace, Anthony Azekwoh isn’t just creating art—he’s cementing a blueprint for the modern African creative.
Watch the full interview with Anthony Azekwoh on the WOTKNOTMAG YouTube channel to see the exclusive breakdown of his artistic process and the creation of The Aunties.
