CHIGOZIE OBI, WINNER OF THE ACCESS BANK ART X PRIZE 2022, PRESENTS 'LE JOURNAL DE GOZIE', A SOLO EXHIBITION AT ART X LAGOS 2022
Words by The ART X Editorial Team
October 2022
In her first solo exhibition, Le Journal de Gozie, Chigozie Obi presents a combination of self-portraits in oil, mixed-media paintings and a video journal installation exploring the notion of home and the realities of navigating unfamiliar territory.
Set within the context of Obi’s first trip outside Nigeria, for her residency at Gasworks in the UK, Le Journal de Gozie maps the ancestral, the imaginary and the embodied notion of home, drawing on the artist’s encounters with familiar and unfamiliar objects, people and spaces, and inviting the audience into the mundanity of the everyday and its diurnal rhythm.
Set within the context of Obi’s first trip outside Nigeria, for her residency at Gasworks in the UK, Le Journal de Gozie maps the ancestral, the imaginary and the embodied notion of home, drawing on the artist’s encounters with familiar and unfamiliar objects, people and spaces, and inviting the audience into the mundanity of the everyday and its diurnal rhythm.
| THE THERAPIST, 2020, BY CHIGOZIE OBI. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST |
Obi’s artistic journaling was inspired by the lack of documentation of her and her late mother’s lived experiences together, and Le Journal de Gozie constitutes an iteration of this journaling, a legible marking of temporality and an exploration of cultural dislocation precipitated by the tension of occupying white spaces in a Black body.
Chigozie Obi (b. 1997) is a multi-dimensional visual artist. Her work explores experimentation with multiple materials to tell stories formed from personal/societal experiences. Obi’s work authenticates her keen interest for the human aspect of life, the body, beauty standards and the strive for self-acceptance. She aims to create sustained conversations about people and society - the cultural narratives adopted and how it affects people in it, especially women.
Chigozie Obi (b. 1997) is a multi-dimensional visual artist. Her work explores experimentation with multiple materials to tell stories formed from personal/societal experiences. Obi’s work authenticates her keen interest for the human aspect of life, the body, beauty standards and the strive for self-acceptance. She aims to create sustained conversations about people and society - the cultural narratives adopted and how it affects people in it, especially women.
Obi obtained a bachelor’s degree of Visual Arts from the Creative Arts department, University of Lagos in 2017. Her work has been featured in several group exhibitions and sales, which include, ‘Unity’, Vollery Gallery, Dubai (2022), 'Intersections’, Gallery Affinity, Lagos, Nigeria (2021), 'Are You Comfortable Now?’, A Whitespace Creative Agency, Lagos, Nigeria (2021), ‘Real Life Is Fragile’, Thinkspace Projects, Los Angeles, US (2020), MoCada Museum's silent auction (2019). She was selected as Arthouse Contemporary's Artist of the month - July 2018, one of the recipients of the inaugural Tilga Fund for Arts Grant (2020) and the Art.ng Grant for Visual Artists (2020).
She is the winner of the Access Bank Art X Prize (2021), and recently concluded her residency at Gasworks, London (April - June 2022).
We invite you to see ‘Le Journal De Gozie’ which will be presented at the seventh edition of ART X Lagos at the Federal Palace, Lagos from 4 - 6 November. Click here to buy tickets.
She is the winner of the Access Bank Art X Prize (2021), and recently concluded her residency at Gasworks, London (April - June 2022).
We invite you to see ‘Le Journal De Gozie’ which will be presented at the seventh edition of ART X Lagos at the Federal Palace, Lagos from 4 - 6 November. Click here to buy tickets.