Crowned Legends

Afro Futuristic-Fantasy Art

2025

Lagos

This piece celebrates Queen Nzinga of Matamba (Present Day Angola), showing her strength, courage, resilience, and determination to help her people.
To celebrate Angola, I have dressed her in traditional Angola fabric known as Samakaka fabric. The green Bokeh background shows how she fought guerilla warfare in the moutains and forest. The snake is a symbol of her cunning and strategic mind and the daylily is a fantasy representation of a flame flower to show her resilience and willingness to make terrible choices for the good of her people.
Nzinga was neither a hero nor a villain in this aspect, she was a ruler making difficult choices in a brutal time.

History of Queen Nzinga's Achievements

Early Leadership: Became a skilled diplomat and negotiated with the Portuguese to reduce their control over Ndongo.

The Throne of Ndongo: Took power after her brother’s death, ruling as queen despite opposition.

Military Strategy: Formed powerful alliances with escaped enslaved Africans and local tribes to resist Portuguese invasion.

Creating Matamba: Established the Kingdom of Matamba as a stronghold for resistance and trade.

Guerrilla Warfare: Led her army in battles, using guerrilla tactics to weaken Portuguese forces.

Religious Adaptability: Converted to Christianity when necessary for diplomacy, but also maintained traditional beliefs.

Legacy: Fought until her 80s, leaving a powerful legacy of African resistance against colonial oppression.

This piece celebrates Queen Amina of Zazzau (Present Day Zaria), showing her strength, courage, resilience, and determination to help her people. It reimagines Queen Amina as a leader who continues to protect her people as a celestial being.
Queen Amina represents the kind of strength I strive to capture in every woman I paint. She led armies from the frontline and protected her people fiercely, proving that women can lead with power, vision, and purpose.

I paint women as protectors, leaders, and visionaries because history has always had them, even if it rarely celebrates them. Amina’s story is a reminder that women have always played pivotal roles in shaping nations and defending their people.
Queen Amina is just one of many women who remind me that strength is not a fantasy — it’s a legacy. And through my art, I add to that legacy by painting women as they truly are: powerful, multidimensional, and unstoppable.

Amina's Achievements

First recorded female ruler of a major African kingdom (Zazzau/Zaria)

Amina defied gender expectations by becoming a queen and leading a Hausa kingdom during the 16th century.

She led her people into battle as a warrior-queen. Unlike many monarchs, she led her armies into war, often at the front lines, showing unmatched bravery and inspiring loyalty.
She expanded Zazzau’s territory through military conquest

Under her reign, the kingdom extended as far as Kano and Katsina in the north, and Nupe and Kwararafa in the south, creating one of the largest Hausa empires.

She built a network of defensive walls around cities and towns. She secured vital trade routes across the Sahel and West Africa.

Her conquests opened and protected trade paths, allowing Zazzau to flourish economically, trading in goods like gold, salt, leather, and horses.

I have also added symbols of what she represented. The falcon represents her sharp vision, strategic mind, and precise attacks in battle. A marigold to represent her strength, her fiery spirit, and an enduring legacy.