Yinka Ilori’s First London Exhibition

Lucinda Baring meets British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori ahead of his first solo gallery show at Cristea Roberts Gallery in Mayfair

Yinka Ilori: Finding Joy Through Pain And Loss

An Abundance of Flowers blessed by us, for us, 2026 (£1,800)

Stepping off the pavement into the colour-drenched Cristea Roberts Gallery signals loud and clear that Yinka Ilori’s exhibition has arrived. Surprisingly for an artist with such a prolific output, this is his first solo gallery exhibition (an important distinction from his show at The Design Museum in 2022) and a highly personal one as Ilori processes the loss of his mother.

Exploring three motifs – lace, flowers (the British daffodil and the yellow trumpet flower, Nigeria’s national bloom) and drums – kaleidoscopic prints and hand-embroidered artworks hang on the lime-green painted walls, complemented by brightly painted pianos and embellished calabashes and drums. ‘All these things are part of my universe,’ Ilori tells me, ‘and form part of this exploration of grief and joy I’m talking about in the show.’

Ilori’s mother died in September 2023, and this work is part memoir and part celebration of her life and influence. ‘It looks at the way that she carved joy from whatever she was going through, but also it’s a celebration of  a number of people I grew up with in North London, immigrants who moved from one place to another and experienced racism, who were able to shake off that resistance and find joy through community, music, church, dancing, songs of praise, textiles.’

Ilori has been playing the drums since he was a child – ‘self-taught, and then I started playing in different churches on Sundays. When I look back, there were moments of release and I enjoyed watching people respond, dance and laugh’ – and he still has a drum kit in his studio. ‘I actually played this morning, when I was a bit stressed.’

The Blankets of Lace Drum Kit, 2026 (£30,000) in the show incorporates pieces of lace made at a workshop in Ayrshire, in a nod to the lace Ilori’s mother used to make and sell from the family’s front room. A lace tapestry (£6,000) hanging near the entrance is stitched with the wording that form the subtitle of the show – He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best. ‘It was something she said to us all the time – that no matter what you’re going through, nothing is permanent. A change will come.’

Ilori’s signature colour explosions are threaded through the artworks (prints from £1,800). ‘I think of a kid at a nursery with a white piece of paper, and they’ve got red, blue, orange, yellow, every colour paint, and the result is this chaotic, beautiful mess.’ That ‘mess’ is the mess of life – joy, resistance, grief, pain. When his mother died, Ilori faced a new challenge: ‘How can you talk about grief when all you know is joy, when all she’s ever taught you is actually how to be happy?’ It’s a new feeling that that he is processing through his work. He has also announced his foundation, inspired by his late mother, designing accessible play spaces in Nigeria.

Blankets of Lace Drum Kit, 2026 (£30,000)

‘I think of this loss like the breaking of a glass or a bowl. You have these fragments and when you pick them up, it’s like they are pieces of her that remind me of how she laughs, or what she wore – memories of joy and the things she instilled in us, her use of colour and storytelling.’

The show also features two soundscapes, devised by Peter Adjaye and James William Blades who – following conversations with Ilori over a period of months – took the fragile theme and interpreted it in their own way. Anyone who buys a piece from the exhibition will be given a signed vinyl. Giving viewers this 360 immersive experience – an experience beyond a traditional gallery visit to see art on walls – was important to Ilori.  ‘We see lots of stats about how people – especially younger generations – are trying to find communities, whether that is at a members’ club, gym, a running group or sauna club, a listening room. We are also quite demanding; we want more out of life, to feel inspired and informed. We live such busy lives, so if I can capture your time and imagination for 20 minutes, and get you to engage, for me that’s a job well done.’

Ilori has been exploring sound healing and loves the New Waves listening room in Chelsea, where he’ll order a negroni and enjoy the music. ‘My dream is to create a Yinka Ilori listing room, with work of great artists on the walls.’ I have no doubt he’ll do it.

Joy Through Resistance: He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best. 5 June to 11 July 2026 at Cristea Roberts Gallery (43 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JG)