Nigerian visual artist Emmanuel Olatunde is combining his scientific background with his passion for art to create portraits using paints made from natural clay.
Based in Lagos, Olatunde has developed a technique that turns clay, traditionally associated with pottery and sculpture, into a colorful medium for painting on canvas.
To produce different shades, he uses the clay’s natural colors as well as oxides commonly used in ceramics and various binding agents.
The process is the result of years of research, experimentation and repeated attempts to understand how clay reacts when mixed, applied to canvas and left to dry.
Olatunde told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the material’s unpredictability has become an important part of his artistic process.
