Adeola Ayoyinka Erinfolami
Textile works on emotional construction, cultural memory, and the weight of what we carry.
The Architecture of a Smile
Smile Studies is an ongoing textile and mixed-media series that explores the emotional, psychological, and social complexities hidden within the act of smiling. Through the use of unconventional materials available in my community, I investigate the smile not merely as an expression of joy, but as a constructed surface that often conceals vulnerability, endurance, memory, and survival.
Each work within the series carries a distinct emotional atmosphere shaped by its materials. Wool and wire explore the tension between softness and restraint; denim and buttons speak to labour, identity, and everyday survival; jacquard fabric layered with pearls and rusted wire examines beauty alongside emotional corrosion; while stitched burlap introduces themes of repair, endurance, and fragility. Through stitching, binding, wrapping, layering, and suspension, the materials become emotional language rather than decorative elements.
Through Smile Studies, I invite viewers to reconsider the simplicity of a smile and to engage with it as a site of emotional construction, resilience, concealment, and humanity.