Nigerian artist Laolu Senbanjo brought his practice of a sacred Yoruba ritual to the main screen in Beyonce’s new album “Lemonade”.
Beyoncé released her Lemonade album on Saturday and had some tracks like Apathy and Sorry where she and some of her dancers had some body paints on. The man behind Beyoncé’s body art is Nigerian man based in Brooklyn, Laolu Senbajo who was featured on The Fader magazine. Laolu shared some of the works he did in Beyoncé’s video saying he’s now relieved that the album is out and he can share his artwork from the video.
In the monochrome section entitled Apathy, Beyoncé’s background dancers are seen wearing intricate white body paint while riding in a metal bus and moving to the album’s fourth track, “Sorry.”
Later on in the film, Beyoncé is also seen with a small amount of body art; white dots have been delicately placed above the curve of her eyebrows and dragged from her lower eyelid to her cheeks.
Laolu calls his body painting artworks Sacred Art of the Ori, noting that the origin of this practice derives from a spiritual Yoruba ritual. “In my language, Yoruba ‘Ori’ literally means your essence, your soul, your destiny,” Laolu explains in his artist statement. “When I work with a muse, the muse, their Ori, and I become one. It’s the deepest, most spiritual experience I’ve ever had with my art as an artist.”
Laolu also made Blueivy hand painted sneakers,awww how sweet.
#SacredArtOftheOri pic.twitter.com/aivNY7PFNz
— LAOLU NYC (@Afromysterics) April 23, 2016