Berntson Bhattacharjee, UK

For Market Art Fair 2026, Berntson Bhattacharjee will present British-Nigerian artist Sola Olulode. Her dreamy queer visions explore embodiments of British Black Womxn and Non-Binary Folx. Working with various mediums of natural dyeing, batik, wax, ink, pastel, oil bar, and impasto she develops textural canvases that explore the fluidities of identities.

Drawing inspiration from lived experience, friends, and cultural reference points to centre Black Queer Womxn, Sola emphasises the integral need of representation and celebration of queer intimacies.Her utopian scenes celebrate relationships that transcend crude notions of queer sexuality, her figures exemplify the warm embrace of queer love, a temporal space to bathe in memories of intimacies abundant with scenes of profoundly deep tender connections.

Envisaging a world reflective of the celebration of her own identities Sola brings to life representation and visibility of Black Queer lived experiences. Her figures represent multifaceted complex individuals and the energy they hold in their bodies relishing in a boundless temporality of self-validation and joy.