03Serenity
Oil on canvas
Ajar / Adewole Jonathan Alitonou
Born in Gabon. Rooted in Benin.
Then painting began.
Adewole Jonathan Alitonou, known as Ajar, was born in Gabon to Beninese parents. His early life was shaped by the Fang and Myene cultures of Gabon and the Fon, Goun and Yoruba traditions of Benin. After more than twenty years in the United States, painting is reconnecting him with the places, memories and spiritual presence that have remained with him.
Read his story
Motherland Reminiscence
The series carries memories of Benin and Gabon through masks, music, oral history, coastlines and distance from home.
04Rock Bottom
Oil on canvas
The image that returned
“A Benin guy made in the US.”
In January 2025, Ajar saw himself as a child drawing on white sheets of paper. The experience brought him back to visual art and led him to begin painting.
Continue to the story
Golden Tales
Oil on canvas
36 × 48 in.
From the studio
Where the image
takes form.
See Ajar at work, from the first gesture to the painted surface.
Enter the studioThe complete archive
See the works