Collection: Kesiena Edemadide 🇳🇬

Kesiena Edemadide, known as Kessie Hue, is a versatile, up-and-coming Nigerian artist whose chosen mode of expression whilst illustrating or painting is centered around the female figure and all its intricacies. To Kesiena, the female is a symbol for strength and beauty, likening the curves and twists of the female anatomy to “LIFE” in the sense that life has its victories and its shortcomings. He paints to tell life’s story from a woman’s point of view; as a means of paying homage and gratitude to his mother for the unconditional love and strength she exhibited while raising him. As an artist, Kesiena experiments tirelessly with different media and feels a great sense of accomplishment when he is able to translate the vision of his craft into tangible artwork. His works span from painting on canvas using acrylics, to intricate murals, and to his more recent medium of digital illustrations. Kesiena’s passion to create stems from the love of artistic expression through the use of lines and colour— blurring the lines between realism and abstraction in expressing the gestures, moods and postures of female figures. He does not shy away from the female figure in full or semi nude states, allowing his state of being to guide the explicitness of his piece through a deliberate choice of colors and shading. Kesiena earned his B.A in Fine and Applied Arts from Delta State University in Abraka, Nigeria (2015) and had previously attended Universal Studios of Art, National Theater, Iganmu, Lagos for his Industrial Training (I.T) program. Growing up, Kesiena was highly regarded in his community as having an eye for detail in how he reconstructed comic book characters and received encouragement from his peers to passionately pursue and develop his talent. At University he took on diverse jobs like: painting portraits of students and their respected family members, painting on clothes for fellow students as well as customizing attires for events. These experiences were key to his decision to take the leap and pursue his passion as an artist, despite the gargantuan challenges artists face in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.