Visual Artist · Photographer, Storyteller

John Lekan

Human beauty, captured one frame at a time. Award-winning fine-art photography exploring identity, resilience and the quiet poetry of everyday life - exhibited in London, Lagos, Birmingham, Bradford, Hastings and Leicester. Creative Visionary of the Year 2025/26.

Aworan: African Lenses exhibition poster - Lightbox Gallery, LCB Depot, Leicester, 25 September to 10 October 2026
Now On · Solo Exhibition

Aworan: African Lenses

Lightbox Gallery · LCB Depot, Leicester

Photographs and digital art by John Olalekan Durojaye - around twenty-five framed works extending the conversation begun with my Lagos solo show, and opening at the start of UK Black History Month.

  • 25 September - 10 October 2026 · Free entry
  • Launch night Friday 25 September, 5-10pm
  • Monday to Friday, 11am - 5pm · also open Saturday 10 October
  • LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester LE1 1RE
John Lekan seated portrait in black attire and fedora
Aworan - “Image”

A student of media, of life, and of photography

I am John Olalekan Durojaye - known as John Lekan, and to many simply John Lekan Durojaye. For over twelve years I have travelled the world with a camera, documenting the diverse beauty found in humanity and the remarkable things we have made as a species.

“The golden rule in the arts is that all rules are meant to be broken - and I am on the way to breaking them all.”

Aworan, my signature collection, gathers twelve years of composed and real-life art: images as timeless as nature itself, made to transfer you into stillness when you look at them.

Read My Full Story
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Years of Practice
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Exhibitions
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Major Awards

From the Aworan Collection

Composed and real-life art telling the story of my travels and the people I have met along the way. Click any piece to view it up close.

Ascension - dark figures beneath a single beam of light
Composed Art

Ascension

WOMAN - silhouette with beaded accessories
Portraiture

WOMAN

Liquid Serenity - monochrome portrait with cascading liquid
Composed Art

Liquid Serenity

Eternal Glow - the Eiffel Tower at night
Travel

Eternal Glow

Recently

Award

Creative Visionary of the Year 2025/26

Global Reputation Forum · London, April 2026

Presented by the Lord Mayor of Westminster at a ceremony attended by Grammy winner Wouter Kellerman and global media leaders.

Now Showing

Summer Exhibitions 2026

RBSA · Stables Theatre & Arts Centre, BAFA, UK

Iya Laje at the RBSA Summer Show (to 1 August), the Summer Exhibition 2026 at the Stables Theatre & Arts Centre (27 July - 26 September), and Sanctuary of Nature at BAFA (1-18 August).

Exhibition

Aworan - Solo at Atirira Gallery

Lagos, Nigeria · 2025

A homecoming solo showcase where In Thought was acquired by a private collector - the collection's first sale.

Commissions · Weddings, Lifestyle

Looking for the photographer, not the artist?

Alongside my fine-art practice, I run Camera Boss my wedding and lifestyle photography studio serving the UK and Nigeria. Testimonials, pricing, galleries and bookings all live there.

Visit CameraBoss.co.uk ↗