At Brittle Paper, we love covers and believe it is a unique aspect of a book’s story, so when Tina Knowles’s memoir Matriarch was published in April, the cover caught our attention.

The cover art features a painted portrait of Knowles seated against a background of blooming white flowers and turquoise sky. It is giving off a visual language with print and posture element that channels the work of someone like the Malian photographer Seydou Keïta, whose 20th-century images of women became legendary for their quiet, composed power.

It turns out the portrait is by Nigerian painter Kelani Fatai Oladimeji, a rising star from Lagos known for his textured, figurative work. In an Oprah Book Club clip on Instagram, Knowles praised the cover as “one of the most beautiful covers,” and revealed that she discovered Kelani’s work on Instagram years ago and “tracked him down” for this very project.

In Keïta’s portraits, like the ones we see in the images above, women sit or recline. They are posed, but never stiff and surrounded by dense, layered prints: floral curtains, checkered textiles, patterned backdrops.

Kelani’s painting channels some of that. Knowles sits in a long yellow skirt patterned with hibiscus and lilies, echoing the white blossoms behind her. You would think that the printed fabric of her outfit and the floral background would compete, but they don’t. Just like in Keïta’s work, where dress and drape are sort of in a conversation. Knowles’ posture is also similar to Keita’s women: composed and confident while being fully aware of the frame. Contemporary painters like Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s and Kehinde Wiley also work with print-oriented portraitures of women, with similar feel. This places Fatai’s work in a long history of artistic representation of black femininity.

It is worth noting that the cover is also a moment of diaspora and inter-generational collaboration. Knowles discovers Kelani via Instagram. The portrait is painted in Nigeria and printed on a book about a woman who figures prominently in American cultural life.

Congrats to Kelani!