In a city where people are constantly encouraged to work harder, move faster, and keep going, Musa Ganiyy is interested in what happens when they finally stop. His 2026 painting A ye wa dá (Where's the Space Now) depicts rest as something worth protecting, bringing together recreational objects, human figures, and the quiet moments people carve out for themselves. For the Lagos-based painter, illustrator, and photographer, these moments are just as important to document as the difficulties of everyday life. Born in 1993, Musa Olushola Ganiyy‘s experiences shaped an interest in the relationship between people and their surroundings. His paintings draw from familiar Nigerian environments, using expressive figures, vivid colours, and layered textures to examine how people live, adapt, celebrate, and find moments of peace.

Musa graduated from the University of Lagos in 2014, but his artistic interests began much earlier. As a child, he was fascinated by science-fiction films and comic books, influences that helped develop his interest in illustration and visual storytelling. His experiences growing up in Lagos would later provide a different source of inspiration. Rather than concentrating exclusively on imagined characters and fictional worlds, Musa began paying closer attention to the people, activities, and social conditions around him. He describes his practice as a form of visual social journalism, using paintings to record experiences that might otherwise receive little attention. His work frequently incorporates figures, patterns, gestures, and fragments of familiar environments, bringing together observations of everyday life with imaginative compositions. Through acrylic paint, oil pastels, charcoal, and collage, he has developed an approach that accommodates both social commentary and personal expression.

One of Musa's defining projects is Wired and Unwired (2024), a series examining Nigeria's electricity crisis and its effects on ordinary people. Presented at Windsor Gallery in Abuja and Lagos, the project draws from an experience familiar to generations of Nigerians: the uncertainty of public power supply and the adjustments people make when electricity becomes unreliable. Among the recurring references is the recognisable figure of the NEPA man, a character associated with the country's electricity infrastructure and its complicated relationship with the public. Musa approaches the subject through humour, expressive painting, and familiar cultural imagery, allowing the frustrations surrounding power supply to become part of a larger story about daily survival. The series considers how an unreliable essential service influences people's routines and expectations, while acknowledging the resourcefulness with which communities respond. It is a subject rooted in everyday Nigerian experience, made visible through paintings that combine criticism with an appreciation of the people living through it.

Although large canvases form an important part of Musa's practice, he regularly experiments with different formats and materials. His smaller works include FASHUNN-001, created with oil sticks and paper collage, and Ese witi witi ni ilé Anjofé, a mixed-media piece whose Yoruba title refers to a crowd gathered at Anjofé's home. His commercial illustration work includes Rave Therapy, a merchandise design for Quacktails. These projects show his willingness to move between traditional painting, graphic imagery, and applied illustration without abandoning his interest in people and contemporary culture. His wider exhibition history includes To Grand Bassam and Endless Whispering Waves at Dida Gallery in Abidjan in 2023, participation in Songs We Never Forgot at Kokopelli Gallery in Lagos in 2026, and selection for the RMB Latitudes Art Fair's Nigeria Focus, connecting artists and audiences across West and Southern Africa.

Across Musa Ganiyy's work, there is a continuing interest in how ordinary people experience the world around them. Wired and Unwired examines the frustrations caused by an unreliable electricity system, while Happy considers the importance of making time for rest, play, and relationships. His paintings of fashion, music, and social gatherings document other parts of the same experience, recognising that daily life contains humour, pleasure, uncertainty, and difficulty in varying measures. Through expressive figures, familiar cultural references, and experiments with colour and materials, Musa gives these experiences a place within his artistic practice. He does not limit his observations to the most dramatic events or the most recognisable personalities. Instead, he continues to find subjects in the routines, encounters, and shared experiences of the communities around him. For Musa, painting offers a way to remember how people live, what they endure, and the things that make life worth enjoying.