Figurative artist Fridah Ijai isn’t ready to part with one of her paintings.
The piece, Her Pose, the latest addition to her Head Held High series. It depicts a striking deep-blue figure with an elongated neck, standing confidently against a mesh-patterned background, its silhouette cast on the surface.
Ijai says that she is not usually one to hold on to her work for long. While she once did, she now believes that a tree does not eat its own fruits. Her Pose, however, is different. She has already turned down two offers, convinced that the painting is a masterpiece.
“For now, I’m enjoying living with it for a while longer. But if the right offer comes along, I might let it go. Whoever ends up with it will definitely be very lucky,” she says.
The Head Held High series explores themes of resilience, freedom, confidence, courage, and joy, with a strong focus on boldness. She is interested in what it means to fully take up space, visually and emotionally, by portraying composed and elevated female figures who embody strength, dignity, and hope. So far, she has created 32 artworks in this series.
The series came about when she was creating one of the pieces in 2024 and noticed that she had unintentionally elongated the subject’s neck.
At first she was devastated, thinking that she had to restart the sketch, but then she had been reading about Jean-Michel Basquiat and remembered his belief that there are no mistakes in art.
She continued and explored what the elongate neck would bring to her work. With each piece, she intentionally stretched the necks even further, curious to see how the idea would evolve, and then it gradually became a series.
Resilience, to her, she describes, is the courage to keep the head held high even when things are difficult. It is the ability to adapt, learn, and keep moving forward without losing sight of who you are.
“Through their presence, expressions, and stories, I seek to celebrate the human spirit and its remarkable ability to endure and transform through hardship,” she says.
Ijai is interested in the cultural elements that contribute to the themes of identity and belonging. Through Black figures depicting the African posture, expression, skin tone, fashion, and hair, she tells stories that celebrate the beauty, strength, pride, and dignity of Africans.
She explains that she is drawn to figurative painting since she is most familiar with it and her subjects are readily available in everyday life.
“I have a deep appreciation for studying the human figure and exploring its many possibilities. What fascinates me most is the ability to manipulate form, posture, and expression to communicate different ideas and concepts,” she says.
Her process begins with a vision, and from there, she subconsciously looks for a subject or muse found in everyday life, through fashion, street scenes, media, or encounters with people. Then she prepares the canvas, sketches the figure, and paints the figure, then the background, and finally details such as scribbles, marks, and text.
She deliberately uses colour, texture, and contrast to create balance between chaos and calm and bring out ideas and emotions while guiding the viewer’s attention.
“The eye naturally seeks moments of calm within chaos, which is why the contrast in my lines, patterns, and textures is so important. It creates visual harmony, draws the viewer into the work, and helps the subject stand out prominently from its surroundings,” she says.
Before this series, she began as a realist painter whose works revolved around women’s empowerment. Elements such as bold lines, vibrant colours, and playful backgrounds were already explored, but they are now executed with a much more controlled and meticulous approach.
Today, she says, she has given herself the freedom to experiment and find joy in imperfections. She allows mistakes to become part of the creative process, which leads the work in unexpected and exciting directions.
Ijai started practising art at the age of ten, drawing and then later painting throughout her years of schooling. Her path led to pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art at Kenyatta University, where she encountered oil painting, a medium that she now uses. She is also experimenting with mixed media on paper, a medium she describes as unfamiliar but creatively freeing.
“I hope viewers experience a sense of chaos and calm in my work. I want them to feel challenged and grounded at the same time. My work is meant to pull them into complexity but also offer moments of calm within it,” she says.