Adwoa Botchey and Solomon Adebiyi paint art depicting various African deities, cosmology, and mythological characters.
Adwoa Botchey, 27, and Solomon Adebiyi, 28, met for the first time in 2016 at the Chuck Gallery in Manchester. Both were exhibiting their artwork for the African Caribbean Society. While admiring each other's paintings, they discovered a shared passion for mythology but quickly realized their knowledge of African mythology was limited.
"We were both very interested in mythology. Growing up in the UK, we only had access to Greek, Norse, and Roman mythology. But if it was African, we were only aware of Egyptian mythology," Botchey tells OkayAfrica.
This shared interest sparked a journey of exploration into African mythology. Despite being architecture students at the University of Manchester, the couple devoted time to reading "dense" research papers and books on African cosmology, mythology, and folklore. By 2017, they began documenting and sharing their findings on social media.
From the cosmology of the Bakongo people in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the divination practice of the Nandi in Kenya, this creative couple enlightens their followers and listeners about the diverse cultures and interesting myths across Africa.
"Initially, it was centered around West Africa because we're from Ghana and Nigeria. But as we started telling the stories to more people in and outside Africa, we realized the mission was bigger than us. Diaspora needed these stories," Adebiyi says. "They needed to feel represented and see themselves in these complex deities and heroes. People loved it; they connected with it. People could learn, most of the time for the first time, about African mythologies through us. We're starved of that level of representation in mainstream media."
Inspired by their research, the creative duo began painting art depicting various African deities, cosmology, and mythological characters. Their core motivation is challenging the monolithic view of Africa, showcasing it as a continent with 54 countries and diverse cultures. They believe more people would understand with more visual representation.
The couple believes more people would understand African mythology with increased visual representation.
Photo by Adeche Atelier
Beyond that, storytelling has become their tool to address the lack of adequate representation in fantastical worlds. While acknowledging works like Black Panther and theChildren of Blood and Bone series, they emphasize the need for greater exposure to Black fantastical worlds and books by Black authors inspired by African mythology.
To support this mission, they created a digital library of book recommendations, becoming a valuable resource for their over 500,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. They often make one-minute videos recommending these books to their social media followers.
SinceTomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone trilogy gained global success, interest in fantasy books by Black authors has surged. Book content creators increasingly recommend these books on BookTok and Bookstagram.
For those new to the subject, Botchey and Adebiyi recommend starting with nonfiction works like Encyclopedia of African Religion and An African History of Africa, which provide a broad scope and deep insights into African culture.
The couple believes spotlighting African culture through mythological works is essential to developing the African mindset. "Mythology as a whole was a way for humanity and civilizations to understand their place in the world, their role in it, and the divinity within themselves," Adebiyi says.
"You learn so much about a culture and the way the people thought about the world, how they explained the stars and rainbows in the sky, through mythology and folklore," Botchey tells OkayAfrica. "But, with limited access to Kenyan or South African mythology, how do you understand the people if you can't understand how they thought of the world? That's why a lot of African history often starts with colonialism or slavery."
Botchey and Adebiyi believe spotlighting African culture through mythological works is essential to developing the African mindset.
Photo by Adeche Atelier
In 2020, the couple started a podcast,Afro Mythos, to share more in-depth stories beyond their paintings and short videos. The podcast features guests who help "uncover the untold stories of African mythology and folklore." They wrapped up the third season in September 2024 and are set to release the fourth season with more experts in the third quarter of this year.
After years of juggling research and content creation with academics and, eventually, corporate jobs, Botchey and Adebiyi resigned in October 2024 to focus full-time on their work at Adeche Atelier. "Adeche" combines their surnames, while "Atelier" reflects their architectural background.
Since relocating from Manchester to London in 2023, they've worked from their home studio, creating art workshops and collaborating with organizations, including the BBC, the National Gallery, TikTok, and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
In February, they launched a new series on their YouTube channel to discuss African Mythology and Religion (AMR) extensively. However, they plan to extend the topics to include spirituality and will roll out more episodes under a new name, African Spirituality, Mythology, and Religions (ASMR).
"Mythologies and folklore have moral lessons conveyed when told in context. In the story where Esu divides two villages, [Esu] paints himself half black and half red and runs through the middle of both villages. The people of each village see different sides of him; they argue and fight because of this, believing the other village is tricking them. A version of this story says the multifaceted god was trying to teach people about the power of perspectives," Adebiyi says. "But with the colonialists demonizing Esu, the modern world has lost access to this type of knowledge. So we must relearn these stories because they will teach us about ourselves."
