“I try to not portray a person in the fullness, how they look, or put themselves across," Lagos-Nigeria-based Wahab Saheed says of his work, "I only I don't look at it from that perspective rather I look at things in a very, inward manner. I am more into the expressions they give. If I can capture the truth about their expressions, then I've actually painted the person.”

In what shows just how global a new generation of Nigerian painters have become, NANZUKA in Tokyo will present the debut exhibition by Saheed, entitled Some Days Are Diamond. In this exhibition, a selection of around 10 new paintings on canvas will be presented in the first floor space of NANZUKA UNDERGROUND. These works depict the artist’s friends, acquaintances, and family who live remarkably and with much strength in the midst of these unprecedented times brought on by the pandemic. “There's a new voice in Africa as a whole, we are doing our best and we're writing history in the contemporary art scene," Saheed says. From Amoako Boafo to Chidinma Nnoli, there's a brilliant new generation of painters from Africa that we continue to discover. Saheed's works are another powerful look at portrait art from the continent, and a talent to keep an eye on for years to come.