Artist Soldier: ‘If you put money at your forefront, your work will lose its lifeforce and essence’
Soldier’s talent and determination has made him one of the London art scene’s most explosive rising stars. And he’s hungry for more
by: Soldier
17 Sep 2025
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Growing up in Nigeria was so chaotic. I had many moments where it was almost life or death. My parents didn’t have any money. Sometimes even now, thinking about some of the meals we had I’m like, kudos to them, they were trying their best. Then coming to England, I see a lot of waste. Back in Lagos, you finish your food, it’s not enough food. Bro, your waste can feed a community where I come from. So I try not to waste anything, like time and resources, because I know nothing is a given. But the best thing about this life is this one given thing, which is death, so it ends at some point, which is great, because this is tough.
In Nigeria I was graphic designing for a skate brand, and skateboarding and video work. We were the first people skating, and doing really tiny exhibitions in the skate shop. Being the first young kids doing that in a country that doesn’t have any of that. That put the right eyes on us, you know.
We created a new subculture in a country that needed it at the time. I put in the work at that point, I was homeless for about two years, I ran away from home, stayed in people’s houses. They’d let me sleep on the couch or stay in their skate shop. Once or twice I’d be on the streets, you know, it was really dangerous, at some points it was looking really hopeless, at the end of the second year, I was like, if I don’t get to England, oh boy, I’m cooked. But, you know, good things happen.
And then I met Skepta, and I was like, bro, if I get everything to a particular point will you pay for my fees. And he said yes, and so I came with all the papers needed for the exams. I was surprised that I was able to get to that point and, he paid for my fees. I got here when I was 18. I sold a painting for my plane ticket. I got here, no place to sleep, nothing. I just came and the homies had a house. I was young, and I was a skater, you kind of get away with certain things at that age.
I’ll sell glasses to a blind man, because I’ve kind of done that. But as I’m growing older and older, I’m trying not to actually think too much about money, because that can affect the work you make.
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If you put money at the forefront of the work you make, your work will lose its lifeforce and essence. You need to really think of mastery, your craft and what you want to say, because in the crazy time period the world is in right now, there’s a lot of things to say. I want to make work that stands the test of time. It’s not just like a cash grab for me.
I guess because I came from a world where I understand pain and suffering, I’ve always made work that speaks about that and the experiences of people who come from my upbringing. During the Nigerian Civil War they starved a lot of us. There was a lot of killing, misplacements. I used to have this bus driver who was batshit crazy, I can’t believe my parents let him drive me to school. He used to be in the war, and he had PTSD. In places like the UK and the US, you have facilities for that kind of thing. But Nigeria, they’re just rawdogging the pain.
He’s driving, and telling me war stories, and he’d drink every day as he’s driving. He used to kill birds and eat them. It was raw. This was what a majority of Nigerians, including my parents, were going through, so much pain and suffering and just feeling like it was normal, so crazy to think of it. Many people don’t understand what pain is until their backs are against the wall, but there’s some people, every day they wake up from when they’re born, their backs are always against the wall. So I wanted to make work to speak to those people. Luckily for me, and not luckily for me, I’m Black. There’s a deep history of backs being against the wall.
I started making works about camouflage because I used to have run-ins with the army, and got arrested three times. You were not allowed to wear camouflage. And I had to learn that the hard way. So I came to the UK and I saw people selling it. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a good metaphor for freedom and rebelliousness.’ And also to speak about how war shapes our reality and taking the meaning of something very bad and turning to beauty. And I’m doing the portraiture of Black people. What I normally try and do is not to come from a victim perspective, but a perspective of excellence. People who normally, when I see them, their backs are against the wall, but now putting them in a position where they are excellent or where they say something, or they evoke emotions. I see the Mona Lisa, and she’s just like a white lady staring at me. So just trying to represent something that is still underrepresented, that’s the work.
People always say you need to have a signature style. Fuck that. As long as you make a particular thing and you have a particular experience as a human being, it’s always going to be a signature. So your job is to just express yourself and filter through these ideas. To have a signature style is like becoming Disney and branding yourself.
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I love reading books about arts, artists. I love the hustle. I love the struggle, the ups, the downs, buying the canvas, the frustration and lows from the exhibition, maybe no selling. I’m excited for that. Maybe you have a terrible year financially, and that’s enough to make you hungry.
I want to be a successful artist. I want to make amazing works. I want to do like, 10/20 shows, get into museums. Listen, even if you don’t get that, you’re going to smell something close to that if you work hard enough for it. How bad do you want to? I want it really bad. I’ve been doing it for so long, since I was 16, it made me gnarly, made me a tough kid.
When you make work, make it for yourself first. If you’re gonna do stuff for the general consensus about people perceive you, you’re never gonna make anything really special. If you look at music, most of the best things were made when people broke the rules, from jazz to rock ’n’ roll. Also be yourself, and if you make a mistake, don’t let anyone make you feel like you can’t never go back, because you can always go back.
My big issue is fear, sometimes it’s OK to be afraid, and it’s also sometimes OK to be lost, just maybe try and always find your way back.
