❇️ Nigerian Visual artist Tife Sonaike launched Nollywood Reimagined, a series that gives Old Nollywood posters a modern twist, showcasing authentic Nigerian stories and culture.
🎬 The series features reimagined posters for State of Emergency by Teco Benson, Diamond Ring by Tade Ogidan, Lepa Shandy by Gbenga Adewusi, and Issakaba by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen. For Tife, this project is a conscious effort to reinterpret these films through a modern lens, sparking renewed engagement with their legacy.
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#nollywood #explore #documentingnollywood #tifesonaike #nollywoodreimagined
Old Nollywood posters sold drama, chaos, heartbreak, action, sometimes all at once.
Visual artist @7ifetheillustrator is channeling that same spirit through Nollywood Reimagined, a series transforming classic Nollywood films into contemporary poster art without losing their emotional core.
In this interview he argues authenticity over perfection and preserving cultural history through his work.
🔗Read More via LNK in bio
Recently made this piece for a private space, inspired by My Father’s Shadow, one of my favourite watches from 2025. The film’s quiet take on the distance between father and son, where so much goes unsaid, really stayed with me. It made me reflect on how easily silence can slowly turn into distance in real life.
Tife Sonaike is a talented Nigerian visual artist recognized for his distinct style that combines bold, vibrant colors with precise anatomical lighting. Through his art, Tife has become an important keeper of West African pop culture, using his work to preserve and celebrate stories and images that resonate deeply within the community. His style is known for being “cleaner and sharper,” skillfully translating the raw energy and texture of traditional art forms into a polished, modern digital style. This approach ensures that the powerful narratives and iconic moments from the past remain vivid, relevant, and accessible to today’s audiences as well as to future generations.
One of Tife’s most significant projects is his series titled Nollywood Reimagined. In this series, he offers a vital contribution to the creative world by rebuilding and preserving the visual history of shared childhood memories connected to Nigerian cinema. He carefully recreates and reinterprets the bold, chaotic posters of classic Nollywood films such as State of Emergency, Diamond Ring, Lepa Shandy, and Issakaba. By giving these larger-than-life images a fresh, contemporary makeover, Tife not only documents an essential piece of Nigerian cultural history but also breathes new life into it. Each piece in the series acts as a bridge between the raw, emotional memories of the past—films that “scared us shitless”—and a sleek, professional design language that speaks to today’s viewers.
Through his work, Tife Sonaike proves how art can be a powerful tool for cultural preservation and storytelling. His ability to blend nostalgia with modern aesthetics creates a meaningful connection between generations, allowing iconic moments from West African pop culture to live on in a vibrant and engaging way.
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@7ifetheillustrator TifeSonaike is turning nostalgia into preservation
From the chaotic, larger-than-life posters of State of Emergency, Diamond Ring, Lepa Shandy, and Issakaba, he’s reimagining iconic old Nollywood visuals from memory cleaner, sharper, but just as powerful.
At a time when much of that era’s artwork has been lost or forgotten, Sonaike isn’t just redesigning posters he’s rebuilding a visual archive of Nollywood history, one illustration at a time.
Dive into how he’s giving these classics a second life
Fourth piece from the Nollywood Reimagined series, bringing back that original energy.
Issakaba (2001)
Dir. Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen
#nollywoodreimagined
