Desmond Tjonakoy

Desmond Tjonakoy is of Ghanaian descent. He has been associated with Outsider Art Ateliers and Bijzonder Amsterdams since 2011. He likes to work with pencil and fineliner on themes that have to do with Black culture such as music, religion and history. For example, he draws portraits of Black icons such as fashion model Naomi Cambell and West Coast rapper MC Eiht and works on his own mythology around the characters 'Carla' and 'the Black Lion', where the latter takes on monsters and demons to fight the battle between to settle good and evil. Lately, his work has increasingly focused on the history and struggles of Black people. Desmond has participated in several art projects: an international Erasmus project in 2016/17 with workshops and presentations in Cork (Irl) and Brighton (UK). In 2020/21 he designed a t-shirt for their collection in collaboration with streetwear label Patta for the 'Outsiderwear' project. Desmond is one of the winners of the prestigous Euward prize and his work will be exhibited in the Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2024.