Odera Igbokwe
Home: Vancouver, British Columbia
Title: Black like the nods between my Negritude North Star: Marcelo
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 45 x 60 cm
Website: odera.net
Instagram: @OderaIgbokwe
ARTIST STATEMENT
Black like the nods between my Negritude North Star: Marcelo is a painting from a larger series that depicts Black intersectional identities in BC. This series was born from the question: What happens if instead of reaching upwards and outwards to the cosmos, I reach inwards and laterally to the very cosmic experience of being in intentional intersectional community.
This painting specifically depicts my friend, Marcelo, gazing into the viewers’ eyes as his skin transforms between naturalistic browns to warm fiery solar colors and brushstrokes. He wears a bodysuit that becomes reminiscent of the night sky with stars, celestial bodies, and new universes dancing amongst each other. Marcelo is a frequent collaborator with experiences as a figure model, dancer, and a conduit of the power of embodiment and living out the dreams of your ancestors.
Black culture, creativity, labor, and ingenuity are often siphoned and exploited globally, while the actual Black people are disrupted, flattened, or erased. In Canada specifically, there is a culture of downplaying racism because the flavor and nuances are different than the history and present day reality of the US. Often this leads to a particular kind of erasure, softening of violence, and stasis for Black Canadians.
With that in mind this series works to create a lattice of access points, a kaleidoscope of reflections, where Black people are the creators and the muses. Where Black people are archived, recorded, and given a through line into new futures. Where this lattice can represent the embrace, the looks, the casual nods, and the moments of care we provide each other. Black like the nods between my Negritude North Star is a series of paintings to tell our community; “I see you”.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Odera Igbokwe (they/them) is a painter, illustrator, and movement artist located on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Odera was born of Igbo parents who immigrated to the lands of the Lenape people. As a result they are constantly excavating, responding, and envisioning in spite of the fractures that occur via diaspora. Their artwork is an exploration of intersectional cosmologies through Afro-diasporic spiritualism, Black resilience, embodied transformations, and redefining the archetypal hero’s journey.
Odera holds a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and studied West African Dance Movement and Theatre Arts at Brown University with New Works/World Traditions. Their work has featured in exhibitions, publishing, and gaming. Recent collaborations and exhibitions include working with Vancouver Art Gallery, Nia Centre for the Arts, Polygon Gallery, and CBC Arts.