New Money

A man in black emerges from red.

His clothing absorbs almost everything. His eyes meet the viewer. From his mouth, a thin line of red travels downward through beard, throat and chest.

This is wealth being made rather than inherited.

Azekwoh has described the figure simply: he is making his, and the bleeding is his own.

That distinction becomes the foundation of the painting.

New money in Lagos is frequently narrated as velocity: hustle, aspiration, risk, reinvention. The visible result is success. The invisible half is what the body was required to absorb in order to produce it.

Here, the bill remains attached to the person who paid it.

The blood belongs to him.

So does the money.