Ayo Akingbade

Ayo Akingbade (born 1994) is an artist, writer and film director. She has directed nineteen short films. Her short films explore the mundanity of urban life in full swing in London's inner-city boroughs and industrial life in her family's hometown in Nigeria.

She earned a graduate degree in film at the London College of Communication and subsequently attended the Royal Academy Schools as a student from 2018 to 2021 and is featured on the RA collection website.

Career Akingbade graduated with the intent to build a career in the film industry and has spoken about her experiences not being taken seriously as a Black woman in the white-dominated field.

She cites Spike Lee, Ousmane Sembene, Souleymane Cisse, Safi Faye and Steve McQueen as her first major film inspirations. In an interview with the British Film Directory, Akingbade suggests that her vision for her own films resonates with British films such as High Hopes (1988) by Mike Leigh and Burning An Illusion (1981) by Menelik Shabazz.

Filmography Her trilogy of short films, No News Today (2019) provides a commentary on social housing and the response of residents to issues such as redevelopment and gentrification. This includes the film Tower XYZ (2016), which is shot primarily in West and East London on housing estates. Street 66 (2018) is compiled from archival footage and interviews about the 1970s regeneration of the Angell Town estate in Brixton, South London. The trilogy is completed with Dear Babylon (2019), a fictional dystopia that utilises archival footage of street protests.

Artistic style As Akingbade herself has acknowledged, she "addresses notions of urbanism, power and stance." She places emphasis on the importance of the image to convey broader social and political history and realities.

The form of Akingbade's work varies from narrative shorts, to experimental essays and the documentary. As much a visual media artist as a filmmaker, her form ties into her subject matter, which centres around conveying an emotional and socio-political attachment to a physical space. +Short Films

Alongside this, Akingbade was shortlisted for the 2023 Film London Jarman Award.