Portrait of Unyime Etuk in his studio. 2026
Unyime Etuk (b. 1993) is a self-taught Nigerian figurative artist whose practice centres on the human figure and the Black experience.
He began drawing as a child and started taking art seriously after graduating from university in 2016. He began with pencil and pastel before moving into painting, spending several years working mainly through commissions and developing his understanding of the human figure.
Over time, Etuk became more interested in making work from his own questions rather than from a client's request. He now works primarily with oil, using the human figure as a way to think about how we see ourselves, how others see us, and what it means to be Black.
His current body of work, People of Colour, began with a simple question: What if we were literally people of color? The question has since become the foundation of his practice and a body of work he considers his life's work.
Etuk has produced more than 500 professional works for clients in Nigeria and internationally, and his work has been exhibited in Nigeria and beyond. He continues to build People of Colour as the central direction of his practice.
I have always been interested in people. How we look, where we come from, what we carry, and the things that make us who we are.
I began with pencil and pastel, making portraits for other people, before moving into painting and eventually developing work from my own questions.
I kept hearing the phrase "people of colour" in workshops, focus groups, and conversations about race and society. I understood what it meant, but I became interested in what would happen if I took the words literally.
What if we were literally people of colour?
That question changed the way I paint. I moved away from familiar skin tones and began using different colors for the human figure. What started as a question has become my life's work.
I don't have all the answers. I am still asking the question, still painting, and still finding out where it will take me.