How Two Creatives Explore The Sacred And Spiritual Through Art

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Adetona Omokanye, “Untitled 7 (Spiritually Fashionable)”

Adetona Omokanye

In a world increasingly defined by digital noise and cultural divisions, two contemporary artists from different traditions—Yi Ming in Shanghai and Adetona Omokanye straddling Lagos and Toronto—are anchoring their work in ancestral knowledge and spirituality. Though separated by geography, their practices prove that spirituality isn’t a relic of the past, but a living language for navigating identity, resilience, and belonging in the 21st century.

Adetona Omokanye: Yoruba Cosmology as Cultural Lifeline

For Nigerian-Canadian artist Adetona Omokanye, spirituality is synonymous with cultural survival. His acclaimed “Spiritually Fashionable” series—currently featured in Toronto’s United Contemporary gallery exhibition “Too Much Fashion: An Ode to Black Creative Resilience” — uses vibrant, large-scale photography to reflect Yoruba masquerade traditions as acts of resistance and joy. His work has also been viewed in public spaces, including Toronto’s main transportation hub, Union station. “Our culture and tradition are embedded in our spirituality,” he tells me. “Without them, originality is nowhere to be found.”

Omokanye’s work confronts colonialism’s toxic legacy, which systematically demonized Yoruba practices. Ironically, as someone raised as a Christian, he has no conflict with navigating both of those worlds, either spiritually or artistically. This is an intellectual grace that anyone who understands the colonial ties to Christianity an its uses to justify horrors like the Transatlantic slave trade and colonization could find challenging to reconcile. “I’m a Christian, but I understand the space of culture and tradition. Calling one ‘evil’ to make another superior? That’s a mind game to hold you down mentally.”

His images intentionally juxtapose sacred Egungun costumes—stitched from ancestors’ garments—against modern African fashion and female models. The Egungun are the spirits of ancestors returned, honored with offerings of food and drink, in a celebratory festival that ties the living to not just their ancestors, but their history. This choice is revolutionary since, traditionally, women are excluded from masquerade rituals. By placing them center stage, Omokanye honors their unseen role in preserving cultural craftsmanship while disarming viewers with beauty. “I draw you in with color and composition first,” he explains. “You appreciate the aesthetics before asking questions.”

The spiritual weight of these traditions is undeniable. “It’s a protector—a bridge between worlds,” Omokanye states. His mission extends beyond documentation to reclamation. When researching, he found zero records of Egungun artisans. “Nobody talks about who makes these garments. If we don’t, outsiders will define it for us.” His work is a way of ensuring Yoruba cosmology remains self-authored—a visual manifesto against erasure.

Yi Ming: The Taoist Path to Understanding Stillness

Hubei-born abstract painter Yi Ming’s work channels an entirely different yet parallel spiritual lineage. Rooted in Taoism and Zen Buddhism, his ink-on-paper compositions and oil paintings—celebrated in global collections and high-profile auctions—transform philosophy into visceral experience. For him, painting is meditation. “I spend an hour calming my breath, letting thoughts settle like sediment in water,” Ming says, sounding more like a Zen master than a painter. “The brush becomes an extension of my body.” You can see the influence of other Chinese painters in his oeuvre, like Zao Wou-Ki — a Beijing-born painter and abstractionist who joined Western painting practices with traditional Chinese aesthetics — in works like Ming’s “Spring Charm” or “Enigma”. Wou-Ki broke records for the sale of his 300 square foot work “Juin-Octobre 1985” and it remains to be seen if Yi Ming rises to those heights. But being so Zen about everything, it’s more likely he doesn’t care. After all, Ming was already tapped to be the chief designer of the 2008 and 2022 Beijing Olympic Games image campaign, where his creativity was responsible for hair, make-up and even styling of Olympic hostesses for the event.

Central to his practice are principles like yin-yang (balance) and wu-wei (effortless action). He describes blank space not as emptiness but as “the breath giving life to the work—a fertile ground where transformation happens.” This approach bridges the divide between Eastern discipline and Western abstraction’s emotional rawness. “Eastern philosophy allows me to follow the flow, while Western thought offers assertive expression. My art is where these impulses shake hands.”

Yi Ming’s global appeal lies in his ability to distill complex philosophy into universal resonance. His “open rooms without walls” approach invites viewers into contemplative dialogue, imagining spaces where chaos takes a backseat to calm. Unlike many Western artists who seek control over their materials, Yi Ming instead collaborates. “Ink will diffuse, water will wander. I listen, adjust, and respond.” The result? Paintings that feel simultaneously spontaneous and deeply intentional—a dance between presence and absence.

Spirituality as Resistance and Reconnection

Despite oceanic divides, both artists share core convictions that redefine contemporary art. For one thing, ancestral dialogue comes before religious dogma, with neither artist treating tradition as static. Omokanye reconciles Christianity with Yoruba reverence by highlighting their shared spiritual roots—noting that Yoruba’s “Olodumare” (the supreme deity) was woven into Nigerian Christian beliefs. He points to pastors of Christian churches who invoke the Oludamare when speaking of God. Similarly, Yi Ming avoids literal symbolism, letting philosophy live “in the stroke, not the image.”

Both artists also treat art as a cultural lifeline, although in different ways. In another life as a photojournalist, Omokanye spent a lot of time documenting conflict, like the threat of Boko Haram or other humanitarian crises. “This work was necessary but also mentally suffocating,” he recalls. It’s also a way for Omokanye to push back against harmful and biased narratives about the continent. “Art allows me to counter the single story of Africa as a place of suffering, by revealing the beauty of our cultural traditions and craftsmanship.” Meanwhile, Yi Ming’s art preserves Taoist/Zen principles against cultural commodification by transforming them into tools for modern mindfulness that are more authentic than the inevitable AI-generated commercialized version of ‘zen’ that awaits us all. The artist studio is a sanctuary for both, where ancestry and connection to tradition is actively invoked in a contemporary sense. “When I immerse myself in cultural beauty, it enlightens my spirit,” explains Omokanye. For Yi Ming, “Painting cultivates inner stillness in a chaotic world.”

In a time of polarization, when the loudest voices in the room call for closed borders and minds, these artworks model a multipolar world that invites viewers to engage with open minds. “Turning your back on what makes you unique? That’s the real loss,” Omokanye asserts. Their art proves spirituality in contemporary practice isn’t just nostalgia—it’s about finding what makes you whole in a fragmented world. Ancestors and the knowledge they keep aren’t irrelevant ghosts of a bygone past, but active guides in reimagining our future.