Ajar / The story
A Benin guy
made in the US.
Gabon Benin San Antonio
NameAdewole Jonathan Alitonou
BornGabon
HeritageBeninese parents
BasedSan Antonio, Texas
Left BeninAs a teenager
PracticePainting, since January 2025
“My journey as an artist is still young, but the story behind it is not.”
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.
Origins
Born in Gabon. Rooted in Benin.
Jonathan was born in Gabon to Beninese parents. He describes an upbringing shaped by the Fang and Myene cultures of Gabon, together with the Fon, Goun and Yoruba traditions of Benin.
Motherland Reminiscence carries both places. The masks, music, earth and coastlines do not decorate the work. They come from memories, ceremonies and cultural forms that have remained present across distance.
“The spirit of Dahomey remained within me, quietly waiting for the moment when I would be ready to listen.”
Ajar, on listening
01 / The return
The child with the white sheets.
In January 2025, Ajar began a three day fast while searching for clarity after an intense period of family stress. He experienced what he describes as an out of body vision. He saw himself as a child, sitting with white sheets of paper and drawing. The experience reminded him of a talent and a love of visual art that he had set aside.
Before he began painting, Ajar had always loved art and drawn, but had never considered himself a painter. The practice arrived naturally. He often begins without a fixed plan; while painting, he enters his own world and allows the image to come to him.
02 / Before painting
Mathematics offered security. Art kept waiting.
Growing up, he was told that art would not provide a secure future. He followed science and mathematics instead. He was good at mathematics, found work and built a life, but never felt he had found a true sense of purpose.
03 / Learning to look
Before the brush,
there was attention.
In 2012, Ajar met Dr. Dora McConnell, who became his mentor and welcomed him into her home. There he encountered the paintings, sculpture and books of Otho Stubbs.
Over five years, he studied Native American history through that collection. He paid close attention to the brushstrokes, techniques and stories in the work. Without realizing it, he was learning to see art not simply as an image, but as a language.
04 / The first painting
A familiar face.
For his first painting, Ajar chose the face he knew best: his wife, who had been beside him for sixteen years. Painting her made him feel less vulnerable. Her familiar face gave him confidence and reassurance.
He named the painting Trust the Process. It became the starting point for Pursuit of Freedom, his first series. Mahawa is the muse who appears throughout the series as the Lady with No Name. Through her recurring presence, vulnerability gradually becomes confidence.
Mahawa is Jonathan’s muse. Her face carries the entire series.
05 / Motherland Reminiscence
Memory became a place of return.
Motherland Reminiscence draws from moments, places, traditions and events Ajar remembers from Benin and Gabon. The works bring together oral history, music, coastlines, ceremonial forms and memories that remained dormant for decades.
“The series invites the viewer to enter those memories and find a place within them. It offers a moment of harmony between the Creator, the Creature and the Creation.”
“I may have been made in the United States, but a part of me has always remained in Benin.”
“Now, through my art, I am finding my way back home.”AjarSee the complete body of work