Tayo Fatunla
Tayo Fatunla (born 1961), often stylized as TAYO, is a UK-based Nigerian cartoonist, storyteller, comic artist, and illustrator with over four decades of producing comics, illustrations, caricatures, and socio-political commentaries.[1]Tayo studies Comic art and illustration at The Kubert Art School in New Jersey. He is a member of several professional cartoon organizations, including the Global Cartooning for the Peace movement,[2] and an active member of the Cartoonist Association of Nigeria (CARTAN).[3][4] He has held exhibitions and cartoon workshops in the U.K., Europe, Africa, Asia and the U.S.[5] and has produced cartoons, illustrations, and magazine covers for several clients, including the award-winning digital comic for the BBC World Service titled Hooked; illustrated students’ worksheet on Africa Kingdoms for the British Museum;[6][7][8] and the illustrated histories of cities focusing on Lagos State of Nigeria for the Guardian.[9] His illustration of Fela Kuti was featured in Burna Boy's video album "Ye".[10]
Early life
Tayo Fatunla was born in Wimbledon, London, in 1961 and has drawn cartoons for over three decades. He is the son of Marcellina (nee Abosede) and Emmanuel Fatunla. When very young he had a great interest in comic magazines, which his mother bought for him. These included Buster, Battle, Beano, Tiger, Jack and Jill, and Roy of the Rovers comics. Later in primary school, he came across Marvel superhero comics, the first being Mighty Thor. Fatunla attended Lagos Baptist Academy Secondary School, Obanikoro, Lagos, Nigeria, between 1973 and 1978. He published his first cartoon while at school in the children's magazine Apollo, owned by the Nigerian second republic executive governor Olabisi Onabanjo.[11]Soon after, he started producing illustrations and cartoons for different mass media outlets in Lagos.
Education and career
Having worked in Nigeria for several years at several print media organizations, including the Daily Times, Daily Express, Lagos Weekend, Evening Times, Concord and The Punch newspapers, [12] Fatunla decided to learn art formally and went further to study cartooning at the Kubert Art School in Dover, New Jersey, in the early 1980s[13]. After his studies in the US, he worked briefly as an editorial/political cartoonist in Nigeria before moving to the United Kingdom during the military era when it became highly unsafe for cartoonists critical of governmental anomalies.[14] He was a resident artist for the Pan-African weekly West Africa magazine for over ten years designing the covers and producing cartoons for it every week. Fatunla's illustrated book, Our Roots,[15] which has won him several awards, chronicles the history and achievements of black people globally.[16]
References
- ↑ Okogba, Emmanuel (2018-05-20). "Omo Oba done good". Vanguard News. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ "TAYO - Cartooning for Peace". cartooningforpeace.org (in français). 2015-08-17. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ "TAYO Fatunla – CARTAN Membership". Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ Olatunbosun, Yinka (5 May 2022). "New Executives for Cartoonists Association of Nigeria CARTAN". Thisday. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
- ↑ Jimoh, Ganiyu. "Interview with Tayo Fatunla: Nigerian Cartoonist in the Diaspora". Africa Cartoons: Encylopedia of African Political Cartooning. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
- ↑ "Hooked – Part 2". BBC News. 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
- ↑ "TAYO Fatunla". United Sketches. 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
- ↑ Lucas, Gregory. "The wealth of Africa Great Zimbabwe - Students' worksheets - www.britishmuseum.org". www.readkong.com. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
- ↑ "No place does me like Lagos' – a cartoon by Tayo Fatunla". The Guardian. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
- ↑ Bada, Gbenga (2023-11-18). "Tayo Fatunla: Artist behind Fela's image in Burna Boy's hit video makes waves". The Nation Newspaper. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ "» Interview with Tayo Fatunla: Nigerian Cartoonist in the Diaspora Africa Cartoons". Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ Medubi, Oyin (2009). "Cartooning in Nigeria: Large canvas, little movement.". In Lent, John. Cartooning in Africa. United States: Hampton Press. p. 205. Search this book on
- ↑ Reporter, Our (2021-05-12). "GIANT IN THE TROPIC OF AFRICA: Tayo Fatunla". Tribune Online. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ Jimoh, Ganiyu (2011). The Role of Editorial Cartoons in the Democratisation Process in Nigeria. Universal-Publishers. p. 24. Search this book on
- ↑ "LIVE! Cartoon workshop! Our Roots with Tayo Fatunla". africa.si.edu. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ↑ "Honour for Nigerian cartoonist in Philadelphia". The Nation. 2018-05-23. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
Further reading
- jẹgẹdẹ, dele (2020). "Migration, Emigration, and Immigration: African Cartoonists Draw the Lines". African Arts. 53 (3): 30–43 – via
- Jimoh, Ganiyu (2011). The Role of Editorial Cartoons in the Democratisation Process in Nigeria. Universal-Publishers.
- Jimoh, Ganiyu. (2024). Cartooning in Nigeria: Revisiting the paradigmatic tradition. Journal of the African Literature Association, 18(2), 333–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/21674736.2024.2351692 (pp. 341–342)
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
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