As I have lived in and visited other countries and witnessed, as well as appreciated them for their strengths, my mind is always called back to my first home and thoughts of what it could be. Nigeria is a country with tremendous potential, but too little to show for it. My decision to depict Nigerian history through this series, was birthed from an almost uncontrollable feeling of responsibility to salvage what is left of a country that I believe is worth fighting for. I suppose you could think of me as a hopeless romantic, a patriot counterintuitively enchanted by a country that continues to disappoint its people.

Furthermore, although I have felt a flurry of sad emotions contemplating Nigeria’s state of affairs in the past, these feelings came to a head following the brutal killing of Nigerian citizens during the peaceful End SARS protests last year. In the midst of feeling absolutely hopeless about Nigeria, my almost immediate reaction was to figure out how I could celebrate it, create art about the reasons it is beautiful and rich and diverse, which is why it is worth fighting for. However, that is not enough to achieve true growth or progress. I have come to find, that if you truly wish to change yourself for the better, you have to take a good, long, uncomfortable look at yourself until you discover the root of the character flaws, habits and hurts that you wish to remedy, as well as celebrate the good qualities that you possess in order to build on them. Then you will make way for a much-improved version of yourself to emerge. Put simply, you have to come terms with all that you are before you can aspire to be more.

Consequently, just as I would do for myself on a quest for self-discovery and improvement, I decided to rummage through Nigeria’s past and history and hold a looking glass up to Nigeria’s face.

‘The Giants Are Coming’ series is the reflection from that looking glass (as held up from my unique position in the grand scheme of things). My hope is that by holding up a mirror to Nigeria in this way and confronting her with her reflection, and encouraging others to behold it, I can help contribute to the creation of a new national consciousness. Perhaps one that stems from an acute sense of self and identity through developing a knowledge of our history and our past – the good, the bad and the ugly.

When we as citizens understand our history in this way, being aware of our successes and our shortcomings and developing an unequivocal sense of self as a nation and a people, I believe we will make a great deal of progress in reaching our full potential.