Before his work appeared in Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, Láolú Senbanjo was a lawyer in Nigeria, working on cases involving women and girls whose rights had been violated. As a senior legal officer at the National Human Rights Commission, he advocated for women’s rights, including cases involving girls forced into marriage at twelve or thirteen.
The work left him angry at the injustices he encountered. “I just felt so much injustice and so much rage,” he says. “And the only way I could interpret that was through art.”
Senbanjo practised law for three years before leaving the profession in 2010. He opened an art gallery in Abuja before moving to Brooklyn in 2013 to pursue art full-time. His work has since reached audiences through collaborations with Beyoncé, Nike, Belvedere Vodka and BVLGARI.
His latest project brings his art to Children of Blood and Bone, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling fantasy novel. Set in the kingdom of Orïsha, the film follows Zélie Adebola, played by Thuso Mbedu, as she fights to restore magic to a land where it has been violently suppressed.
The cast includes Idris Elba, Viola Davis, Regina King, Cynthia Erivo, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Damson Idris. Paramount is scheduled to release the film in theaters on January 15, 2027.
Senbanjo joined the production as an artist and cultural consultant. His work included designing the white markings worn by Elba as Lekan, a high priest of the maji, the people associated with magic in the story.
In the novel, Lekan’s body bears swirling white markings. For the film, Senbanjo drew on his knowledge of Yoruba visual traditions to develop the designs, working closely with costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones. He also created customized sneakers for Prince-Bythewood.
“Working with Gina and the whole team was incredible,” he says. “Everyone came in with so much respect for the culture and the story we were telling. Gina cares so much about the details. She was very involved with the process, including what the stories in the patterns mean and how they relate to every scene and their cultural significance. It felt less like a job and more like a shared mission.”
For Senbanjo, the work offered an opportunity to bring the ideas behind his art into a major film production. He says he was able to share “the significance, spirituality, and language used in my art” throughout the process.
Creating markings for a fictional character required him to consider how the designs would communicate Lekan’s identity within the film’s world. Senbanjo approached the task through the two parts of his life that inform his practice: his Yoruba heritage and his experiences living in the United States.
“I’ve never felt more Nigerian in my life living in America,” he tells The Nollywood Reporter. “And I’ve never felt more Black in my life living in America.”
He explains that these experiences influence the way he sees himself and makes art. “These two things are part of my identity,” he says. “So I work with them in terms of how I create art.”
Senbanjo describes one strand of his visual practice as “The Sacred Art of the Orí,” drawing on Yoruba mythology and the concept of orí, which refers to the head and, in a spiritual sense, a person’s destiny or inner essence. His work uses patterns, symbols, and figures inspired by Yoruba traditions, placing them on bodies, canvases, and everyday objects.
He has also coined the term “Afromysterics,” which he uses to describe the mysteries of African thought patterns. The term relates to his broader interest in African philosophies and ways of understanding the world, while his Sacred Art of the Orí is a distinct description of his visual practice.
For Senbanjo, the patterns carry meaning beyond their appearance. They can draw on stories, spiritual ideas, and symbols associated with Yoruba culture. His work brings these influences into contemporary settings, allowing him to explore how traditional knowledge can be interpreted through different art forms.
“With my art, I like to tell stories,” he says. “I talk about things or stories that most times are not told outside of Africa. I try to take stories from my roots.”
That interest in telling stories from his heritage also informed his work on Lemonade. Senbanjo painted white patterns on dancers during the “Apathy” section of Beyoncé’s 2016 visual album, bringing his body art to a global audience.
The collaboration expanded the reach of his work, but he sees his practice as part of a larger conversation about whose stories are told and whose cultural knowledge is recognized. For him, Yoruba mythology offers material that deserves the same attention audiences give to other established mythological traditions.
That is also the message he hopes young Yoruba people take from his work on Children of Blood and Bone.
“We all as a people, as part of the human race, bring something to this world,” he says. “Your art, your stories, your pictures, whatever art you are into, is valid. It is allowed to exist on the world stage.”
He draws a comparison with the way people study Greek mythology and its heroes.
“If I can study Greek mythology and study Odysseus, why can’t you study Yoruba mythology? Why can’t you study Sango?” he asks. “We all have stories to tell. The world is our canvas.”
Senbanjo was born in Ilorin to Yoruba parents. His father was a lawyer and his mother a nurse. He sang in his church choir while growing up, studied law, and worked in human rights before deciding to pursue art. The move to the United States gave him a new setting in which to develop his practice, though his cultural heritage remained central to it.
His work on Children of Blood and Bone brings those experiences into a production built around an African-inspired fantasy world. He worked alongside costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones and other members of the creative team to develop visual details that connect the film’s characters to its fictional culture.
The production also includes production designer Hannah Beachler, whose credits include Black Panther, and hair designer Andrea Mona Bowman. Senbanjo’s contribution is more specific: the markings he designed help establish Lekan’s appearance and connect the character to the film’s spiritual world.
“I’m grateful to Gina for this opportunity,” he says. “I can’t wait for audiences to see the film.”
For Senbanjo, the project brings his work into a new medium while drawing on ideas he has explored throughout his career. His designs for Lekan give Yoruba-inspired visual language a place in a major fantasy adaptation, continuing his effort to take stories and artistic traditions rooted in his heritage to audiences around the world.
