forgotten dreams
forgotten dreams
buy my poetry book
buy my poetry book
Olúwáṣọlá
Kẹ́hìndé
Olówó-Aké…
(Sola Olowo-Ake) is a design researcher whose primary medium is storytelling. She studied Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent University, UK and completed her Master of Design (Interdisciplinary) at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Canada.
Her design practice focuses on using Yorùbá storytelling methods to contemplate her experiences as she lives and works in the diaspora and additionally depicts these narratives through- garments, performance, song and poetry.
Sola is a published researcher and has contributed her findings to several publications, classrooms, exhibitions and panel discussions.
My Rationale
In every garment, is a dance waiting to be remembered
in the body, are many stories longing to be told
and in every story, is a piece of what someone calls home.
Performances & Talks
2024 (October): Rhythm is Love: Invisible Currents and Sonic Energies. Panel discussion at Afropolis Festival, Lagos Nigeria. I Curator: Oluwasayo Olowo-Ake, Co-panelists: Prof. Halifu Osumare, Alibeta
2024 (October): Dùnní's Monologue. Performance at Afropolis Festival, Lagos Nigeria.
2023 (October): Ahọn Dudu. Language as Embodiment. Panel discussion & performance at Green College University of British Columbia.
2023 (September): Ahọn Dudu’s Burial. Forum 4: Reflexive Research- Embodied Practices by Material Matters Lab of Emily Carr Art & Design University. Panel discussion & performance at Vancouver Art Gallery.
2023 (February): Community Building Through Art & Culture. Panel discussion organised by Vancouver Art Gallery. Vancouver Art Gallery.
2022 (September): Concealed Cultures: Visualising the Black Vernacular. Panel discussion organised by the Black Arts Centre and Surrey Art Gallery. Surrey Art Gallery
2022 (June): Retelling Ahọn Dudu. Performance at Sun Wah Centre. Programmed by Arts Assembly.
2022 (March): UNVEILING. Slice of Life Gallery, The Writing Circle Project.
2021 (November) SANKOFA, Museum of Anthropology UBC, storyteller for ‘Oruko mi ni’ by Oluwasayo Olowo-Ake
2022 (March): Guest Designer (alumni) Lunchtime Talk. Virtual Talk. Fashion Design (BA Hons.) Department at Nottingham Trent University.
2021 (November): Guest Designer for the African Studies Series. Organised by Dr. Antje Ziethen, Assistant Professor of French. Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies in collaboration with the African Studies program, University of British Columbia.
Exhibitions
2024 (August- till date): Atlanthos: Youth-Driven Innovation through Afrofuturistic Storytelling by the Ethos Lab Griots, The Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
2022 (September- December): I see; I breathe; I am’,Surrey Art Gallery.
2022 (March): UNVEILING, Slice of Life Gallery, The Writing Circle Project.
2021 (November) SANKOFA, Museum of Anthropology UBC, storyteller for ‘Oruko mi ni’ by Oluwasayo Olowo-Ake.
2021 (May): 23 actions through design, MDes Graduate Show, Emily Carr University.
2019 (May): NTU Fashion Graduate Show, Nottingham Trent University.
‘If Slavery Were A Crown…’ (2019)
An account of an enslaved man’s journey to freedom told through 3 outfits, poetry, song and film.
Ahọn Dudu (2021)
Ahọn Dudu is tasked by Ojo (the rain spirit) to warn the people of Oke about incoming deadly smoke.
Dùnní's Monologue (2024)
Dùnní takes on the form of a messenger and speaks of an altered reality of the present.
Satellite Design Residency with the Shumka Centre at Emily Carr University. January 2021- 2022. [Report Archive]
The Writing Circle Project (WCP) 2022
The Writing Circle Project is a collective that I started in 2021 as part of my design residency at Emily Carr University. It is made up of 5 artists that sought out to rewrite misconstrued narratives of our identities. Our first body of work is called UNVEILING. [Project Archive]
creative programs
creative programs
Publications
Forgotten Dreams (2025)
First self-published poetry book that explores narrative poetry and telling of stories experienced and witnessed over the span of 2020-2025.
our threads (2023)
Radical Fashion Exercises: a workbook of modes and methods edited by Laura Gardner & Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, July 2023, p.248-249
‘our threads’ is a published prompt that focuses on using cultural identity and the recollection or documentation of it as ‘design process’. [Publication]
Jade Kuro: Ditching ‘the Ideal’ narrative (2022)
International Journal of Fashion Studies, Volume 9, Issue Decolonizing Fashion as Process, Oct 2022, p. 363 - 377
Jade Kuro: Ditching ‘the Ideal’ narrative is a reflection on my final year interdisciplinary dissertation project and an exploration into decolonising the images of the ‘ideal’ and the ‘other’ in fashion. [Publication]
Ahọn Dudu (2021)
My Masters thesis which uses Yorùbá storytelling frameworks through ‘the spectacle’ to tell stories about my experience with lack of black communal culture in Vancouver. [Publication]
Micro Care Publication (2020)
‘I Care’, a poem exploring small acts of care amidst black death as a result of police brutality and the blacklivesmatter protests in 2020. [Publication]
Design, Culture & Context Zine (2019)
My article, ‘BLACK: The ‘Other’ in Fashion’, was included in a zine made by the Design faculty at Nottingham Trent University for the Graduate Show. This magazine was exhibited at The Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery.