Nigerian artist Jacqueline Suowari turns subtle strokes from a ballpoint pen into intricate masterpieces. According to CNN, Suowari has been drawing since she was a child. She studied her craft at the University of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria and has been working professionally for the last decade. Her work has been featured in exhibitions internationally.

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Her recent exhibition, “Now I Wear Myself,” which she launched last summer, seeks to tackle taboo topics like the fetishization and simultaneous criticism of certain indigenous Nigerian cultures. She also takes aim at subjects like depression and shame. Her projects are usually accompanied by performance art and poems.

“I describe myself as a visual artist who specializes primarily with the ballpoint pen,” Suowari told CNN.

“With my drawings, I have this philosophy of layering — it’s just a way that I pattern my strokes upon each other,” Suowari explained. “I like to look at each stroke as the human experience. One experience, one stroke — and the gathering, and layering, and falling together of all the strokes creates the person and their character.”

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