Joy is usually thought of as something that can be felt—an emotion akin to a bright bloom of light bubbling up from deep within the soul. But to British-Nigerian designer and artist Yinka Ilori, joy is a tangible thing that can be built. Ilori, who is often called the “architect of joy” for his ability to turn everyday public spaces into technicolor-design playgrounds, believes joy has a look, a shape, a color. It is a formula, one that Ilori describes as “high-saturation pinks and yellows and oranges and blues that really uplift our souls,” geometric patterns and the circle, which is a symbol of community in Ilori’s design language.
One of Ilori’s newest creations—the immersive animated film Omi Okun—which premiered last week on June 6 in Chicago as a part of the city’s public art project, Art on The Mart—adds some new elements to the classic Ilori formula for joy: nearly three dozen digital projectors, a 25-story building in the city’s downtown Riverwalk as a canvas, and Ilori’s own childhood memories with prayer that shaped his design philosophy.
Omi Okun (meaning “sea water” in Yoruba) details Ilori’s spiritual journey growing up within a Pentecostal Aladura church in his hometown of London. He and his family attended the South London church, which belongs to a religious tradition started by the Yoruba people in Nigeria, dating back to the early 20th century. There, Ilori and his family derived strength, comfort and—most importantly—joy from a community of fellow Nigerian immigrants in the city as they navigated the challenges of securing British citizenship and supporting Ilori through his rigorous design education.
The roughly 15-minute film explores the journey of a young boy in the church (meant to be Ilori) as the power of prayer and incense transports him and his church community from London to the English coastal town of Margate. The setting was inspired by Ilori’s ritualistic bimonthly trips with his congregation to the sea at Margate to be cleansed by the ocean waters. In the film, after “drowning in the blessings” of the sea, the boy and his church are swallowed by the ocean until they appear in a brightly colored utopia, meant to represent the gifts of prayer. “It’s a magical place that’s like, ‘This can’t be real,’” Ilori says. “But it’s real because you’ve prayed for it and you’ve got it and you’ve believed in it.”
The film is awash in tokens from Ilori’s childhood church that he carried into his celebrated design career, from the saturated colors of his congregation’s clothes that are now hallmarks of his creations to a soundscape of booming drums—an instrument he grew up playing in his church that now sits in his studio as a source of inspiration. Adding to the immersive experience is the cinematic nature of Art on The Mart, which is the largest permanent digital-art projection in the world. On this canvas, Ilori’s characters become stories-tall figures of color and light embarking on a spiritual odyssey.
“It’s less about trying to impose or force faith and religion in your face,” Ilori says. “It’s about the bigger theme of hope and joy that every type of faith gives you, whether you are Buddhist or Muslim or Christian or whatever your religion is.”
Through all Ilori’s successes, Omi Okun honors the “architect of joy’s” roots: the church, prayers, and beliefs that have followed him from his childhood throughout his career and now to the facade of The Mart. “The biggest thing I collected from my church was a sense of community, a sense of feeling like you’re part of something,” Ilori says. “Because we live in a world now where there is so much uncertainty, there is so much segregation, so much displacement, the church for me and things of community are things that I’ve always felt are quite close to my heart.”
Omi Okun will be projected onto Chicago’s The Mart building at 9 p.m. CT every evening until September 11.