'The place of children in my work is very important, in that it is these children I love the most, who inspire me, and who are at the foundation of what I create.' - Aboudia

Executed in 2013, the present work was created in Aboudia’s studio in the Ivory Coast during the civil war. Untitled depicts a mother and child, an unusual subject for the artist, against a backdrop of paper collage and detritus, unveiling images from advertising and print media which form the visual architecture of day-to-day life. Perhaps autobiographical in nature, the present work conveys the loss of innocence endured by children in war. Containing a number of reoccurring motifs evident in Aboudia’s work, we see a car in the lower left of the composition, which was acquired during the artist’s early success. This vehicle, symbolic to his artistic journey, represents the start of Aboudia’s relocation to a bigger studio, before eventually setting up a base in New York. Responding to the struggles of warfare, the artist’s oeuvre is a testament to the chaos that propels his subjects, defining his distinctive visual style.