These days, wandering through the streets of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Glasgow you can come across one of the open-air exhibitions of King Owusu, Ghanaian-British artist, illustrator and model. The project showcasing his work is entitled Your Space Or Mine and is an initiative organised by BUILDHOLLYWOOD by JACK, JACK ARTS and DIABOLICAL to bring art to the streets and promote established and emerging talent.

For this occasion King Owusu has created a series of portraits that pay homage to the women in his life and represent the inspirational matriarchal figures of his Ghanaian-London community.

“I wanted to create some work to celebrate my mother and my aunties just like her; for the place that they hold in our hearts and the role that they occupy in our communities. […] I’ve just been really inspired by these women – the support they give to our communities, and the inspiration that they evoke by bringing such a beautiful aspect of our traditional culture to this side of the world. It feels extremely surreal to see it out here; for it to exist in real spaces for everyone to see. I hope this work can inspire other people to paint or create some art too and, for those people that recognise the symbol of these African aunties, that they too feel represented and maybe even a sense of ownership of the artwork.”

– Read also: “Rise Above”, OBEY’s first two murals in the Middle East

With a bold style and bright colours, his artworks are story-driven and full of raw, spontaneous instincts. His art seeks to be empathetic, trying to share simple truths about humanity and incisiveness and to tell the black experience.

Check out images from the project here and follow the artist on Instagram so you don’t miss out on his upcoming work.