John Francis Sesay is a self-taught watercolour impressionist from Freetown, Sierra Leone. His work captures the vanishing architecture and cultural identity of his homeland, focusing on the Krio board houses—wooden dwellings built by freed Africans in the eighteenth century. Through luminous washes of colour, he transforms these fading structures into symbols of memory and resilience.
He began painting during secondary school and held his first exhibition at the Gaga Gallery Arts Centre shortly before the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). During his years of exile in The Gambia, he refined his technique and embraced the expressive depth of watercolour. His works have since been exhibited in Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and at the 2025 Dakar Biennale (off programme).
Winner of the International Watercolour Masters Award in the U.K., Francis is preparing for forthcoming exhibitions in the United Kingdom and Switzerland in 2026. His paintings are held in institutional collections, including the World Bank, as well as in private collections worldwide.
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