Yinka Ilori's 'Joy Through Resistance' at Cristea Roberts Gallery

Yinka Ilori's first solo gallery exhibition in London, 'Joy Through Resistance: He Who Laughs Last, Laughs Best', opens at Cristea Roberts Gallery from 5 June to 11 July 2026. The show presents new works across painting, print, sculpture, and an immersive sound installation, exploring joy as a form of endurance rooted in faith, family, and diasporic resilience. Ilori draws on his Nigerian heritage and London upbringing, incorporating motifs like Nigerian yellow trumpet flowers and British daffodils, lace patterns, and a custom-made shekere. Sound commissions by Peter Adjaye and James William Blades feature brass, Yoruba lullabies, and church hymns. The exhibition examines joy as inherited and practiced, shaped by grief, memory, and the West African diaspora.