SHALA

Shala Akintunde is a Nigerian artist and a pioneer in Solar Art, an emerging field and medium that seamlessly merges visual art with solar technology.

His work challenges social narratives and offers creative solutions through public installations and gallery exhibitions. In 2019, Shala delivered his first TED Talk highlighting this boundary-pushing practice, which also became the subject of a Fall course at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Shala has collaborated with global brands including P&G, Nissan, and Anheuser-Busch, blending cultural commentary with creative technology. He has been honored with multiple Artist of the Year awards and was nominated for Innovator of the Year by ADCOLOR. 

He is most celebrated for his poignant portrait series Shala’s Seven Spoon, and for the Bronzeville Solar Pyramid , a 16-foot solar monument built with his unique art-rendered solar BIPVs. Now a Chicago landmark, the solar pyramid generates solar electricity that allows it to illuminate and provide energy to a neighboring building. This has made Shala’s Bronzeville Solar Pyramid the first public sculpture of its kind.