Lomé — Washington, D.C.
Bethel
Bethel
Aniakou
Self-taught, self-made — abstract and mixed-media paintings built from wood, cloth, ash and found paper, layered by hand into testimony.
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Self-taught, self-made — abstract and mixed-media paintings built from wood, cloth, ash and found paper, layered by hand into testimony.
Born in Lomé in 1969, Bethel Aniakou came to painting almost by accident and stayed for life. What began with a chance meeting with painter Sokeh Edorh in the late 1980s became, in his own words, "entering into religion." He chose abstraction not as fashion but as remedy — a way to question the everyday and open a dialogue with anyone willing to look closely.
Wood, bolts, cowrie shells, jute sacking, cardboard, ash and torn paper all find their way into his surfaces — a tribute, he says, to a family line of carpenters, and a refusal to separate the studio from the street.
Read the Full Biography
A short film following a canvas from bare board to finished surface — the sanding, the layering, the found objects set into wet paint. Follow along on YouTube and Instagram for new studio footage, exhibition walkthroughs and works in progress.
Watch on YouTube
