Gone?

Slawn

Slawn is a Nigerian-born, London-based artist whose work sits at the intersection of contemporary art, street culture, music and fashion. Known for his energetic visual language of cartoon-like figures, bold colour and expressive mark-making, he draws upon personal experience, popular culture and Nigerian heritage to create works that are at once playful, provocative and deeply human.

Since emerging from London’s underground creative scene, Slawn has become one of the defining cultural voices of his generation. Celebrated by figures including Virgil Abloh and Skepta, his practice has rapidly expanded from the street to international galleries, museums and public space while retaining the immediacy, humour and spontaneity that first made his work distinctive. In 2023, he became the youngest artist ever commissioned to redesign the BRIT Awards trophy, further cementing his position at the forefront of contemporary culture.

Slawn collaborated with CIRCA in 2023 on GONE?, a landmark public commission that marked the platform’s expansion across Africa. Appearing simultaneously on public screens in Accra, Lagos, Nairobi, London, Berlin, Milan, Seoul, Tokyo and Los Angeles, the project transformed city billboards into a global canvas while introducing the artist’s work to millions of viewers worldwide. Created in response to CIRCA’s manifesto Hope: The Art of Reading What Is Not Yet Written, the commission positioned Slawn amongst a new generation of artists using public space to explore questions of identity, belonging and collective possibility.

Today, Slawn’s work is collected internationally and continues to shape conversations across contemporary art and popular culture. Moving fluidly between disciplines while remaining rooted in the energy of the street, he represents a new generation of artists redefining what cultural influence can look like in the twenty-first century.