Viewing Yinka Ilori: Joy Through Resistance, He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best

Petal power.

This summer, The King of Joy, Yinka Ilori MBE brings it home with his first solo gallery exhibition in London, the city that has long served as both canvas and community for the British Nigerian artist and designer. Joy Through Resistance: He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best at Cristea Roberts, brings together more than 20 new and recent works across painting, print, sculpture and installation. Best known for his colour-drenched public installations, murals and architectural interventions for the public, here Ilori turns inward with a deeply personal body of work rooted in British Nigerian identity, racial resilience and the energy of communal gathering.

Across the exhibition, Ilori draws on the traditions that help communities transform hardship into strength. Floral motifs run throughout the show, carrying themes of joy, grief and renewal. Nigeria’s national flower, the Costus spectabilis or yellow trumpet, appears alongside the British daffodil as a reflection of Ilori’s dual identity, with both blooms set against patterns inspired by ornamental lace and Swiss voile, textiles long associated with ceremonial dress and church attire across the West African diaspora and beyond.

Visitors are also invited into a space of music meets worship, an altar of sorts, where handmade congas, a custom-made shekere and a drumkit are covered in lace. The drum has deep personal significance for Ilori, who taught himself percussion as a child in church, and appears here as a symbol of hope, peace, joy and non-violent resistance. Two new sound works by Peter Adjaye and James William Blades bring together field recordings, Yoruba lullabies, church songs and Nigerian blow horn samples, rooting the exhibition in cultural memory. Vibrant and intimate, Joy Through Resistance is Ilori at his most personal and powerful; asking what it takes to keep joy alive. A must-see.