…mostly known as Sodiq Sheu, but I’m also Ọlanrewaju. At some point, I merged Ọlashile and Ọlanrewaju to become @shilenrewaju for my social media accounts. Shilenrewaju, on its own, means "Shile is advancing." I’m also Ayinde; Ayinde Ọkin.

I’ve spent so many words telling you my name, and I’ve probably left you more confused. However, this chaos around my name, and around my identity, defines my expression and who I am.

I am Yoruba, with an ancestral lineage from the Ọffa Kingdom. This is where the Ọkin (Peacock) connection comes from, as that is the praise and totem of the Ọffa Kingdom. But for most of my life, I’ve been called Sodiq Sheu because that’s my given first name and surname. This name has somewhat shrouded my identity as a Yoruba person. All the other names I mentioned above were my Yoruba names, made to be secondary and known to few. In Yoruba culture, names are not chosen randomly; they tell a story about the circumstances surrounding a child's birth and reflect a prophetic belief in the child's future. Consequently, I have spent most of my adult life deeply curious, trying to connect with what came before, specifically before Yoruba people received names foreign to their native tongue. This has turned my life into a continuous hunt for knowledge, understanding, and connection.

But before all of this, I grew up in Ifọ, Ogun State, where Arabic studies and Christian prayers coexisted with the vibrant energy of traditional festivals such as Ògún Àjọbọ and Ìgunnukó. It was within this communal living and the vibrancy of culture and spirit that I found art. As a kid, I was drawn to colours, the painted alphabet, fruit, cartoon drawings, and figures on shrine and school walls. I was deeply drawn to the images in my textbooks and hooked on the scenes in My Book of Bible Stories. It didn’t take long before I started drawing.

My parents noticed this. As was common in Yoruba families at the time, you needed to learn a trade or "handwork" as a teenager to complement school studies, so I was placed in an Art & Sign shop as an apprentice. Even though I didn’t fully know what art meant or the value it held beyond what I saw around me, I knew art was what I wanted to spend my life doing. When it was time for higher education, I chose to study Fine Art at Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), where I earned my National Diploma in General Art and a Higher National Diploma in Painting.

While studying at Yabatech, I had the opportunity to intern with Dr Kunle Adeyemi. This introduced me to printmaking and his signature "paintocast" and "Paintograph" techniques. Working with him also gave me a deeper knowledge and appreciation of Yoruba culture. However, my journey was not linear. I was convinced by my uncle, a finance professional at an advertising agency, to explore advertising for my one-year industrial attachment before my HND. I completed that internship with 141 Worldwide Nigeria in 2011, and that is how my journey in advertising began.

From my internship at 141 Worldwide, my career evolved into one that took me from the agency floors of Lagos to the markets of Zambia, shaping work for over 30 brands across banking, telecommunications, technology, oil and gas, FMCG, media and entertainment, manufacturing, NGOs, government, and more.

I built a reputation not just for ideas, but for the obsessive craft behind them. My toolkit spans origami, 3D, printmaking, painting, illustration, film, and comics, depending on what the message demands. I write, too, having penned the copy and scripts behind some of my own award-winning works.

These works have been recognised globally, with Nigeria and West Africa’s first wins at Cannes Lions, Young Lions, the Loeries, LAIF, Pitcher, Brandcom, Act Tribute, ZIM Awards, and African Cristals, among others. I’ve been ranked the Number 1 Art Director in Nigeria by Lürzer's Archive and was nominated for Best Art Director in Zambia. My work has been published internationally and used as academic reference material.

Beyond the awards, I’ve mentored and led creatives who have gone on to become industry leaders in their own right.

I’ve found myself in a deeper relationship with advertising than I initially planned. I always found time to create art in the traditional sense when I had the chance, but never as much as I would have loved to. I believe I survived in advertising because art direction gave me the room to express myself in different ways, just as traditional art would, or perhaps I was simply the one who approached it that way.

Now, I want to pay more attention to traditional art, passing on my own message and making an impact beyond what I’ve created before.