Orishas: Àsìkò’s Exploration into African AI Art

Àsìkò is a London based Nigerian visual artist. Àsìkò has captivated our attention for quite some time now. However, these latest pieces take us to a whole new level simply due to the deities that he brings to life with his digital and AI art.

In his most recent works, titled the Guardian series, the Nigerian-American artist brings African folklores of the past to life. He envisions the Orishas (deities) in Yoruba folktales in such vivid detail, giving us a glimpse into how he might have created them.

Each of these pieces is accompanied by Àsìkò’s thoughtful and reflective words. We encourage you to look for these on his Instagram page. In the meantime, please enjoy some of our favorite recreations from him.

African folktales are believed to have the power to hold the community together, that is, the ancestors, the living and those yet to be born. This is because they communicate morals and traditions to the young, preparing them for real life obstacles. The framework of any African society is in the stories passed down through the generations, it is the heritage that informs the identity.
I study Yoruba culture because it is important to understand where I came from and the ideologies that have shaped me from childhood (good and bad). These inform who I am but also make me present about my current grounding and my future aspirations. The things I learn leak into the work I create. In essence the work parallels my life learning story.
I was imagining ancestral planes and other dimensions of the ancestors when I made these images assisted by Ai.