Emmanuel Ezechukwu Akanwa

I’m a Nigerian self-taught hyperrealistic visual artist, who loves to produce oil paintings and to work with children. I grew up to see myself loving nature and everything in it and therefore, I started developing ideas on how to communicate my mind in painting realistic works. To me, art meant everything from my inside, what I think is what I paint, what I see is what I visualize in painting, and I communicate my ideas through painting.

Children are my primary subjects. I paint them not as victims, but as carriers of tomorrow's dreams. I show their strength, their joy, their resilience, and their dignity.
Water appears constantly in my paintings—rivers, oceans, tears. Water cleanses, renews, and brings life. It washes away pain and restores the soul.

My work focuses on children as the future, healing through water and nature, finding joy in simplicity, social justice and child protection, mental health and inner peace, human connections, love and joy.

Through my art, I want to show the world that African children are not defined by poverty or hardship. They are defined by their unbreakable spirit, their capacity for joy, and their power to dream. I paint so that people will see, feel, and act.