ON A SPACESHP

Commanding the cover of Burna Boy’s seminal album On A Spaceship, Ken Nwadiogbu’s hyperrealist portrait transforms the musician into a modern icon of strength, introspection, and ascension. Rendered in charcoal at an extraordinary scale of 42 x 74 inches, the drawing depicts the Grammy Award winner, Burna Boy, cradling an astronaut’s helmet. His head bowed, his torso marked with tattoos, his posture quiet yet unyielding. The background, a cinematic grayscale with the faint silhouette of a rising spacecraft, situates the figure at the edge of earthly reality and otherworldly ambition.

Nwadiogbu draws from the traditions of Nigerian realism and merges them with the charged aesthetic of contemporary album art, producing a visual language that matches the intensity and innovation of Burna Boy’s sound. Inspired by early conversations with Spaceship Entertainment and the artist himself, the brief was not to mimic existing tropes but to reflect a standard equal to the music’s scale. The result is not merely a portrait, but an image that marks the convergence of sound and storytelling. The astronaut motif becomes a vessel for broader meaning: a metaphor for escape and transformation. By positioning Burna Boy not in flight, but at the precipice of it, the drawing captures the quiet before ignition, the tension between grounded legacy and uncharted future.

Presented on November 8, 2015, the album art became a defining image in Burna Boy’s career and a landmark in Nwadiogbu’s ascent as one of Nigeria’s leading young artists. On A Spaceship extends the boundaries of album design, transforming what could have been a conventional commission into a cultural statement.

Commissioned by Spaceship Entertainment. Art direction and design by Ken Nwadiogbu. Photography by Oseni A. Kolade.
With thanks to Damini "Burna Boy" Ogulu, Bose Ogulu, Kalada Innocent Okpukpo, and the entire production team.