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By Henry Akubuiro
As common as portrait art appears, the depth of themes that exist behind the subject have been rarely explored, beyond the aesthetics value. Those rarely focused aspects of portrait art get the attention of artist, Odofin Ernest Shina.
Currently, the artist is showing his works in a solo art exhibition titled Silent Conversations: Portraits by Odofin Ernest Shina, which opened on Artsy.net, from March 16, running till April 17, 2026. In ‘Silent Conversations, Shina explores the profound emotional language carried within the human face. Organised by Tribes Art Africa Gallery (TAAG), the exhibition showcases expressive figurative portraitures, which reflect on the subtle yet powerful stories that exist beneath silence—stories of resilience, identity, vulnerability, and peace.
“For Shina, portraiture is not simply the act of representing a face; it is a process of listening. Every gaze, gesture, and expression becomes a form of communication that transcends words,” TAAG stated shortly before the exhibition opened. “His subjects appear suspended in moments of reflection, inviting viewers to engage in quiet dialogue with the emotions they convey. In these works, silence becomes a space where deeper truths emerge.”
Shina works across medium such as oil, acrylic, pastel, charcoal, and ink, building layered surfaces that mirror the complexity of human experience. The artist’s expressive brushwork and thoughtful compositions emphasize the psychological presence of his subjects, highlighting the tension between external appearance and internal feeling.
The artist’s themes are rooted in his personal values of peace, family, and human connection, celebrating the dignity and emotional richness of everyday people. In fact, each portrait painting becomes a mirror of shared humanity, reminding people that even without words, the human face speaks volumes.
Fundamentally, the Silent Conversations exhibition provides Shina a window to get viewers to pause, reflect, and rediscover the quiet stories that live within everyone. The artist explained that the central theme is a meditation on the quiet languages that people carry within ourselves, such as unspoken dialogues between memory, presence, and inheritance.
Bringing the theme into how one of the paintings represents the metaphor of languages he mentioned earlier, Shina stated: “The figure reclines in an intimate interior, her body at ease yet her gaze alert, as if listening to something beyond the visible.” The piece titled ‘Where She Rests, Ancestors Listen’, according to Shina’, “resists the idea of rest as mere stillness; instead, it frames rest as an active, conscious state where the mind speaks softly and the spirit answers.”
Iconic in the paintings are elements such as patterned fabric, attentive cat, and a sculptural head, all being witnesses and participants in the quiet exchange of the portrait. “They suggest layers of companionship that are not always human, but deeply felt: ancestral echoes, personal reflections, and emotional residues that linger in familiar spaces,” Shina’ captures the seeds of the portrait. “The room becomes more than a physical setting; it is a psychological landscape where silence is not empty, but full.”
Apart from ‘Where She Rests, Ancestors Listen’, Shina is also showing ‘Lingering for Love’, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 4ft x 4ft, dated 2024; and ‘Unspoken’, acrylic on canvas, 3ft by 3ft, 2026, among others. Shina described himself as “an expressionist figurative artist with a diverse mindset on different medium.” He blasted that “portraiture has been my soft spot and cause of the ideas and stories humans facial expressions tends to create.”
Odofin Ernest Shina was born in Lagos, on July 21, 1994, as a native of Ondo State, southwest of Nigeria. His career started eight years after gaining admission into Department of Art and industrial Design, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.
Drawings with mediums like pencil and then advancing to pen has been the artist’s best medium before his formal training. However, Shina chose to master painting and drawing as a career under the tutelage of several established artists, including mentors such as Abiodun Olaku, Joshua Nnmesironye, among others.
Shina has participated in several amazing shows in Nigeria and abroad, including October Rain 2020 & 2022 editions, Mydrim Gallery’s Affordable Art Fair 2019, some exhibitions at Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja, and Sogal Art Auction, among others.
