LOVE/FIGHT: Betty Ogundipe’s first solo exhibition packs a punch

A checkerboard pink and blue punch bag swings in the window of Tache Gallery, a textile embodiment of the tension between heart and mind and a sign of what to expect from Betty Ogundipe’s first solo show, LOVE/FIGHT. 

Having first seen the exhibition through the crowds and prosecco glasses of the private view, I’m eager to have a more intimate tour of the exhibition with Betty and photograph her surrounded by her works.

The fighting motif of the punch bag continues throughout the gallery’s three rooms, with boxing gloves and helmets given a similar fluffy transformation. Alongside the fighting paraphernalia are a series of paintings depicting women in scenes of resistance and performance. “I care a lot about feeling strong and being strong. I wanted to show that my work is mostly about being resilient. The underlying theme is that it is about violence, but it's sort of flipping it on its head and talking about women” says Betty when I ask her about the dualities that run through the exhibition. 

Walking through the first two rooms, I’m instantly drawn to a large painting on a sheet of canvas, where the sweep of a blue dress is pulled taught over the curve of a pregnant woman’s belly. The somber, more muted colour palette of the piece contrasts with the colourful riot of pom-poms and punches visible in Betty’s other works. 

Whilst not immediately a scene of violence, Betty paints the expectant mother with a fierce resolution and determination. Her face is one of the most discernible of Betty’s figures, even though her eyes are downcast. Her head is slightly tilted, cheek resting on one hand whilst the other supports her lower back. This stance and the centralising of the women’s bump speaks to the physical toll pregnancy and motherhood takes on women’s bodies. Betty achieves this without depicting the figure nude or in the painful grasps of birth. Unlike the raw, fleshy paintings  of mothers and children by Jenny Saville, or Louise Bourgeois’ ominous spider sculptures and visceral, almost child-like prints ruminating on the trauma of birth, Betty takes a more subtle approach whilst still capturing motherhood’s intense paradoxes. 

Painting the mother alone, Betty comments on the often isolating experience of pregnancy and the personal sacrifice women take to bring children into the world and raise them. Titled Thinking, the painting is an image of the swinging dualities of motherhood, its beauty and pain, the strength and vulnerability it demands and the isolation and community it can build. Is the mother thinking about how she will afford to look after her child, what kind of mother she will be, who her unborn baby will become? 

Another painting in the exhibition focusing on motherhood, Mother and Baby Unit, depicts a young child strapped to a woman’s back in a swaddle of blue. Painted from behind, the mother looks back to check on the baby, a look of pain and reassurance swept across her face. The physical attachment of the baby to the mother’s body, even after birth, suggests that once a woman becomes a mother, the burden of having a child to support and care for never leaves, even after the umbilical cord is cut. By only showing the face of the mother, and by painting the baby as almost merging with the background- only the sweep of a head and back are identifiable- the mother becomes the central focus. This speaks to the impossible expectation placed on mothers- you must be selfless and simultaneously maintain your sanity and identity as a woman, not just a mother. 

Drawing from her own experiences, including being surrounded by strong women growing up, Betty’s works speak to overlooked narratives of black womanhood, including during motherhood. Whilst the mothers in Thinking and Baby Unit, are experiencing different aspects of motherhood, they are similarly alone in their struggle. A recent study by Five X More, an organisation dedicated to improving black maternal health outcomes, reported that half of black women in the UK who raise concerns during labour did not receive suitable help. As the experiences of black women in the UK are literally ignored, Betty’s paintings give a nuanced voice to a generation of mothers who have been dismissed along racial and socio-economic lines. 

Whilst literally painting women in scenes of strength and struggle, Betty also explores the very real and internal battles that black women face every day. “I'm British, Nigerian. My dad's Nigerian, the ethnic group that we come from is the Yoruba people, who are mainly in West Africa, but also in parts of Brazil and that tribe is a matriarchal one” she says.  

Betty’s upbringing has made her a “natural feminist.” Growing up she was always labelled as such; “I suppose because I've always been quite strong” she reflects “I come from a single parent household, it was just me and my mum, growing up. The way I was raised compared to the West is quite different and my mum comes from only sisters who are all very, very strong women. So it's always been women at the head of the household and women still being feminine but also taking care of a lot of things and I just thought that was normal” she explains.

Many of Betty’s figures are in scenes of survival - fight or flight. In one, the figure stands poised, fists raised, gripped inside red boxing gloves, a bold sweep of bicep and torso, a fluttering of stillness amidst the chaos of a fight. But this strength is also softened with Betty’s use of colour and sensitivity, “I was trying to see how I could explore the experience of bypassing this survival mode that women go through when they don’t feel safe” Betty explains. 

By painting conflict and documenting adversity, Betty wants her art to empower, heal and build communities and one way she does this is by never drawing her figures nude. “For me, I don't believe in exposing a nude body as a way of empowerment because, as women, I don’t think we can control the gaze or other people’s interpretation of us. What we can control is how much of ourselves we protect. I wouldn't take my clothes off in front of an audience, so I wouldn't want to paint my subjects the same way” she explains. 

Not only is LOVE/ FIGHT Betty’s first first solo exhibition, it’s a manifesto for her future production and people’s first impression of her as an artist. It is also only Tache’s fourth exhibition, having opened in March of this year with the mission to dismantle the barriers many artists face in their early-careers by showcasing, exhibiting and supporting emerging artists. 

Also exhibiting at Minor Attractions and hosting LOVEFIGHTNIGHT at the gallery during Frieze London, Tache is shaking up the London gallery scene by prioritising and nurturing young artists like Betty. “We don’t schedule based on anything other than when the artist is ready, when they have a body of work together. If they've proposed something, how long do we need to give them to kind of execute it in the best way, where there's as little stress and as little financial hardship as possible” Gallery Director Lauren explains. “We’re thrilled to present the work of Betty Ogundipe, an artist whose practice embodies the very spirit of experimentation and cultural inquiry that drives our mission” she continues. 

After we finish our chat and wander around the exhibition, I photograph Betty in front of the expectant mother but instead of downcast eyes, she faces the camera with a measured and assured gaze, with a confidence that has been taught from a young age passed down from the strong women in her life. With plans to build on her artistic manifesto, travel, finesse textiles and explore other mediums, Betty is showing no signs of slowing down. If my first impressions of Betty Ogundipe are anything to go by, one thing is clear. Watch this space. 

Betty Ogundipe: LOVE/FIGHT is presented at Tache, London, 18

September – 23 October 2025, tachegallery.com.