Our next set of Naija AfriPOP! stars take reality and make a pretty picture out of it. Adding style and substance to the arts, often juggling different disciplines and they push boundaries to create powerful images in fashion, film, photography, design, and publishing over which we will marvel for years to come.

TY Bello – The Jill of All Trades

Not content with being a singer, make-up artist and the proud owner of an almighty afro, Toyin Sokefun aka TY Bello (pictured above) is also an acclaimed photographer. Formerly a singer with Nigerian urban gospel group Kush, Bello is one of the leading female photographers working in Nigeria. She is also a member of Depth of Field, the influential Nigerian photography collective whose members also include Kelechi Amadi-Obi and .Uche James-Iroha. Bello’s work, which has been exhibited from Bamako to Brussels, is something she describes as an extension of her music, which is an account of her life experiences.

Kehinde Wiley – The Renaissance Man

We heart Kehinde Wiley. With his opulent, powerful portraits of African-American and African men, this 33-year-old visual artist has become one of the biggest names in the art world by recasting the hip hop generation as Renaissance figures. Born in South Central Los Angeles to an African-American mother and a Nigerian father, Wiley works spins everything from west African fabric design to French rococo art to create what he describes as a “conversation about power”: who has it, who doesn’t and who does what with what they have. For the South Africa World Cup he teamed up with Puma to paint portraits of some of Africa’s biggest footballers, design the team uniforms and create collection of accessories to go with it. So while Africa didn’t bring home the cup, they definitely came first in the style stakes.

Kunle Afolayan – The Groundbreaker

In the future, Nollywood films may be referred to as BF and AF: “Before-The Figurine” and “After-The Figurine”. With his 2009 film actor turned filmmaker Kunle Afolayan changed the Nollywood game, bringing crisp cinematography, coherent editing, celluloid and genuine special effects to an industry where commercial success  isn’t usually matched by technical brilliance. At once a pacy thriller and a contemporary Yoruba folk story, with a romantic sub-plot to boot, it stars Afolayan alongside Nollywood sweet boy Ramsey Nouah playing hilariously against type (at least in the beginning of the film) as a swaggerless misfit with a Coke bottle glasses. Although the film is far from perfect, it’s a step in the right direction as the five awards at this year’s African Academy Movie Awards attest.

Dammie Amolegbe – The Fashionista

About three years ago, a then 20-year-old Damilola “Wadami” Amolegbe was looking for a high quality Nigerian fashion glossy. She couldn’t find one, so she made one. The result was HauTe Magazine, a gorgeous quarterly glossy which showcases the best in African talent. In 2008 she went on to launch FashionAfrica.com, an online resource for those interested in  fashion from the continent and beyond. And the next step is HauTe TV, a fashion and lifestyle show hosted by Hauwa Mukan which be broadcast in the UK and in the US this November.

Dawn Okoro – The Pop Artist

Some of our more observant and committed readers may notice that we have covered Dawn Okoro a couple of times before, but we really cannot say it enough: her work is the ish. Inspired by fashion and pop culture, and brandishing oil paint, acrylic and pencil, Okoro’s vibrant paintings capture the fragility and strength of womanhood. Erykah Badu is a fan and Okoro’s work has been exhibited in London, New York and Sydney. Like Wiley, Okoro was born to an African-American mother and a Nigerian father and while she has previously said that she wasn’t really exposed to Nigerian culture growing up, the fact that she qualified as a lawyer while pursuing her art career provides that she is Naija through and through.

Clarence Peters – The Video Star

While most Nigerian videos seem to be stuck in a Hype Williams time machine where flossin’ and champagne poppin’ are still the order of the day, a “Clarence A Peter Expression” sticks out like a sore thumb. Working with artists like Tuface Idibia and 9ice, Peters has made his mark with a videos that marry original concepts with stylish execution and a little bit of political commentary thrown in for good measure – no easy feat in a place where directors also have to be their own editor, set designer, costume consultant, gaffer and grip. Check out his video for MI & Sound Sultan’s “2010” and “Only Me” for  Tuface – more than any other director out there, Peters presents an image of Nigeria which neither denigrates nor deceives.  He just tells it like it is.  The son of Nigerian music legend Shina Peters and actress Clarion Chukwura, Peters also heads Capital Hill Records, an up-and-coming music label.

Stephanie Okereke – Ms Nollywood-Goes-To-Hollywood

Stephanie Okereke may have started her film career as one of Nollywood’s leading ladies (appearing in over 90 films) but it’s very unlikely that her Wikipedia entry will end there.  Over the past few years, this former beauty queen has been inching ever closer to Hollywood, first as a film student in New York and most recently as the director, producer and writer of “Through the Glass” which premiered at Cannes earlier this year. Okereke was also instrumental in bringing her alta mater, the New York Film Academy, to Nigeria to train a new generation of young filmmakers. We look forward to seeing what’s coming next.

Lemi Ghariokwu – The Afrobeat Artist

Think Afrobeat, think Fela, think Lemi Ghariokwu. Despite only being in his late teens when he started working with the people’s Poet Laureate, Ghariokwo was instrumental in creating a visual identity for the sound of Afrobeat. His riotous images married the exuberance of the  music with it’s unapologetic political content. Starting with “Alagbon Close” in 1974, Ghariokwo went on to create 26 covers for Fela and over 2000 in a career which has spanned three decades. He may have been the first Nigerian to make a career from designing record sleeves but we don’t know of anyone who has come even close since.

FAB Magazine – The New African

FAB Magazine, which stands for Fabulous, African and Black, really does live up to its name. Publisher and fashion designer Familusi Akin Babajide has assembled a dream team in Nigerian-Turkish creative duo Suby & Sinem Onabanjo and Nigerian-British wunderkid Mista Skee on design duties, creating a high-end quarterly lifestyle magazine for Nigeria’s global diaspora. The first edition was a two-in-one music special for men and women, one featuring an original illustration of Nneka on the cover and the other featuring Eldee. And FAB’s fresh approach to photography and visuals, coupled with strong editorial and exclusively African advertising makes FAB a unique and welcome addition to the magazine market.

Andrew Dosunmu – The All Seeing Eye

The work of fashion photographer (Vogue Homme, Fader), TV/music video director (Talib Kweli, Common, South African drama “Yizo Yizo”) and now filmmaker Andrew Dosunmu  has a very special way of rendering the mundane absolutely extraordinary. Seen through the eyes of Nigerian-born, London and Paris-educated and now New York and Lagos-based Dosunmu, street traders from Malaysia are reimagined as modern-day dandies, hip hop’s biggest artists become fifties-era film stars. And all of his images – warm, intense, honest – absolutely radiate soul. We expect nothing less from his film debut, a love story called “Restless City” set amongst a community of African immigrants in New York which he describes as “a beautiful, poetic film. Almost like watching a Godard, just with black people in it.”