Hello guys, it’s a great joy to be posting here today for yet another wonderful contest organized by @dequeen this work is my entry for the contest.

Leaders of Tomorrow

We were called the leaders of tomorrow
when our feet could barely touch the classroom floor.
Teachers said it with pride.
Parents repeated it with hope.
It sounded big in our small ears.

“Study hard,” they said.
“You are the future of Nigeria.”

We believed them.

We carried our books through streets.
We read under dim lanterns when power went out.
We stood in assembly lines and recited the pledge.
We dreamed of fixing roads,
of building schools,
of changing the story.

But years passed.

Tomorrow kept moving.
The faces in charge stayed the same.
The speeches sounded familiar.
The promises grew older with us.

We are no longer children now.
We have degrees in our hands
and questions in our hearts.
We watch from the sidelines
while the same generation holds the wheel.

Were we only meant to wait?

Yet something still lives inside us.
A stubborn hope, determination.
Because being called “leaders of tomorrow”
was not supposed to be a lullaby.
It was meant to be a responsibility.

Maybe tomorrow is not a date on a calendar.
Maybe it is a decision.

And maybe the real change will begin
when we stop waiting to be invited
and start preparing to lead
not someday,
but soon.

Sad reality of a Kid who grew up in a Nigerian Society.

materials

charcoal on A4 paper

Progress work

I started with a sketch, outlining the crucial frame work of my subject to give it a guide for other processes.

I started shading the hair giving it a good texture to match what I want, and I proceeded to the face of the subject adding my shading techniques, I employed the use of hatching technique to give shades to the face of my subject.

Final piece

The final piece embodies the sad reality of my subject, and also a historical story of what we were told growing up as kids but when we became adults it was a different ball game.

selfie

I invite
@sadaf02
@maryam86
@peacemike