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Ken Nwadiogbu
I BELONG HERE -
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Group Exhibitions include NEW NOW: Part 2, Guts Gallery, London, UK (2024); Portrait of a Top Boy, presented by Netflix, Embankment Galleries, Somerset House, London, UK (2023); RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London, UK (2023); Lucid Borders, Art Exchange, University of Essex, London, UK (2023); We are Enough, 193 Gallery, Paris, France (2023); The Migrant, Scope Miami Beach, curated by Roger Niyigena Karera, Miami Beach, USA (2022); Across the Pond, Espacio Gallery, London, UK (2022); Unity, Volery Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2022); Freedom Protesters, Thinkspace Projects, Los Angeles, USA (2022); Real Life Is Fragile, Thinkspace Projects, Los Angeles, USA (2021); Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Collection, Conventry Cathedral, Conventry, UK (2021); POW! WOW! The First Decade: From Hawaii To The World, Bishop Museum, Hawaii, USA (2021);1-54 African Art Fair, New York, presented by Retro Africa Gallery, USA (2021); Prizm International Art Fair, Miami, presented by Retro African Gallery, USA (2020); The Cookout: Kinfolk and Other Intimacies, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), New York, USA (2020); 1-54 African Art Fair, New York, presented by Retro African Gallery, USA (2020); Art of Diversity, Yinka Shonibare CBE (RA) studio, London, UK (2020); Monikr International Art Fair, London, presented by Premier Art Solution (2019); ArtX Lagos, presented by Artyrama Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2019); LAX-LHR, Chelsea Sorting Office, London, presented by Thinkspace Project (2019); LAX-MSY RedTruck Gallery, Louisiana, presented by Thinkspace Project (2019); LAX-SFO, Heron Arts California, presented by Thinkspace Project (2019); In The Making, Retro African Gallery, Abuja, Nigeria (2019); ArtX Lagos, presented by Artyrama Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2018); Afriuture Exhibition, Ramati Art Africa & the Commonwealth Africa Summit (2018); Ontario Investment and Trade centre, Toronoto, Canada (2018); Anti-Trump Art Show, Creative Debuts, London, UK (2018); Moniker International Art Fair, NYC, presented by Creative Debuts, London, UK (2018); Generation Y, Retro African Gallery, Abuja, Nigeria (2018); Empowerment, Creative Debuts, London, UK (2018); Artyrama Art Exhibition, Artyrama Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2017); Finidng Your Identity, British Council, Abuja, Nigeria (2017); It’s Not Furniture, Omenka Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2017); Insanity, Omenka Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2016).
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In the paintings Her Point of View and Chioma (Midnight Visit), we glimpse inside domestic spaces occupied by women. In Her Point of View, we are the voyeur, standing behind the figure’s shoulder as she does her make-up. Her gaze, staring back at us as reflection in a handheld mirror, is both confronting and searching. Chioma, on the other hand, faces us head on. She stands in the doorway of her home, guarding her space. We are the visitor who has turned up unannounced and perhaps unwanted. The portrait tells the real-life story of a family friend who travelled from a rural village to live with Nwadiogbu’s mother in the city. ‘It wasn’t an environment she grew up in, but she overcame the fear of the unknown and found a sense of familiarity in that space,’ Nwadiogbu says. ‘She made it hers.’In Chioma, as in all of the works in the exhibition, the figure’s story merges with Nwadiogbu’s own memories to create a complex portrait of place that represents less a specific point on the map than a feeling of belonging and security. For the artist, the fervent colour palette of these latest paintings evokes the climate and culture of his home city while illuminated details against abstract backgrounds recall the ways in which memories often return to us in fragments, both vivid and inexact.The act of claiming space is also explored in an installation piece that comprises the artist’s personal belongings spilling out of a painted suitcase. It is both a self-portrait and a symbol of the migrant’s journey, exploring the ways in which we carry our identity through time and across borders. ‘I recently lost the same suitcase in transit for a couple of weeks and was fascinated by how destabilising that was to me as an experience. It made me think about the fragility of our identity and how we can easily be distanced from who we are,’ says Nwadiogbu.Weaving together personal memories and emotional experiences with stories drawn from Nwadiogbu’s surrounding community, I Belong Here offers a portrait not just of contemporary migration, but of strength and togetherness. We all deserve to feel a sense of belonging, Nwadiogbu suggests, whoever and wherever we are.
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Ken Nwadiogbu: I BELONG HERE
Past viewing_room
