Stephen Akpo is a London based artist working across painting and sculpture. His work explores consciousness, memory and the emotional layers of self-awareness through a blend of abstract expressionism and figurative forms.

Partially sighted, he paints primarily through touch, using hands and fingers to create richly textured oil works that evoke movement, contrast and sensation, often echoing themes of permanence and flight shaped by the transition from full vision to partial sight. Sculpting in clay adds a physical depth to his practice.

Influenced by his work with London’s homeless communities, his art reflects empathy, resilience and the complexity of human experience. At its core, his work seeks to offer something visually new, yet emotionally familiar.

Stephen Akpo, born and resides in London, England

Residencies

2023/24 Artist Residency - SARABANDE FOUNDATION est. Lee Alexander McQueen CBE

Awards

2025 Nominated for the Mosaic Art Award

Selected Exhibitions

2025 LAS Invites, LAS Gallery, London (Group)

2025 Group show, Gathering Gallery, London

2024 When your halo slips for good, you’ll have to wear your hood, Alexander McQueen Sarabande Foundation, London (Solo)

2024 lingua franca II, part the official London Fashion Week schedule , The Handbag Factory, London (Group)

2024 lingua franca, VO Curations, London (Group)

2023 The Royal Academy Of Arts (RA), Summer Exhibition, London (Group)

2022 Art in* exhibition, Soho House White City, London

2022 I celebrate myself Part I, ASC Courtroom, London (Group)

2018 Guise, Never Fade, Soho London (Group)

Press

BBC The One Show

*Wallpaper Magazine

The Standard (Newspaper)

Grazia Magazine