Interview: Steven Fajana
Luca Curci talks with Steven Fajana during THE BODY LANGUAGE 2022, at THE ROOM Contemporary Art Space.

I am Adegboyega Adesola Stevén’ Fajana, An African of Nigerian descendant. Art and creativity always mesmerized me since I was young, the infinite mix and variations. Live in London and receive my education from the University of Westminster, a Masters’s degree in Design and Media Arts and from London Guildhall University Bachelor of Arts (Hon) in Design studies and communications. My artistic practices are in photography, painting, filmmaking, dance, and artist moving images. All these are interwoven to explore the visual gesture and the narrative possibilities presented in a galleria. My earlier works are dance on-screen films, employing movement and dance, the dancer moving body as the protagonist. This correlates to space and presentation, defining the spatial boundaries with the fugitive body in a gesture which relates to the act of spatial scenography. I started as a dancer but have always been fascinated with the dialogue between the visual nuance and the elusive pronunciation in the artistic form. My videos have been screened and exhibited both nationally and on international platforms. My African identity and childhood memories stimulate my creative thought and I draw influence from different artistic genres-media and artists like Ben Enwonwu, Isaac Julien, Roy Lichtenstein, Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Joan Miro, Young-Deok Seo. My art concentrates on the process with the visual narrative nuance by employing the available medium as a vessel to convey my story for each art piece.

Luca Curci – What is art for you?
Steven Fajana – Art allows me the curiosity to explore the creative nuance and it relives a sense of capture within me (‘Gb-yega)

LC – What’s your background? What is the experience that has influenced your work the most?
SF – Photography and moving image

LC – Which is the role the artist plays in society? And contemporary art?
SF – Art drives the change in societies across, it influences, innovates, provocations.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
SF – It is one place within me as a human being that held on to the optimism of life and societies, there are wonders across and around, we taste it, we dare dream of it, we are uncertain and unsure but art allows the wonders to dream and sometimes share that expression.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this exhibition? How did it inspire you?
SF – The concept of this exhibition is a verse and complex gesture often done instinctively rather than consciously, therefore imagery tend to speak louder than words. it enhances our conscious understanding of gestures and what we say and how we say it. And there art and artist tap into it as a core identity not convey your brush strokes or lens shutter!

LC – Do you think ITSLIQUID GROUP can represent an opportunity for artists?
SF – Yes definitely through its international platforms and representations to connect with artists alike and opportunities for representation with buyers and collectors.