BREAKING THROUGH: Three Nigerian Artists Expand On Womanhood

The metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria is known as a bustling fishing port with twisting cobblestone streets, crowded markets and picturesque beaches. But that’s not all. Thanks to a unique renaissance bent on exploring traditional culture, identity and gender norms, the scene is also bursting with creative ambitions. Below, an emerging crop of three young artists who’ve tapped into the motion of the African cultural experience–and what it means to be a Black woman.

Chigozie Obi, a multi-dimensional visual artist who holds a BA from the University of Lagos, experiments with several materials while looking at today’s sculpted beauty standard; and how cultural narratives help shape women. Obi loves working with color. Emotion also influences her work. “I seek to connect with people by making them feel the vehemence in the stories I tell,” Obi explained, adding she likes to “convey messages on insecurity, depression, stereotypes, and gender identity problems” and how it directly affects the Black community.  Her work has been featured in group shows in Dubai and Los Angeles; and last year at the popular Gallery Affinity, Lagos.

In her ethereal paintings, many of which are acrylic-and oil-based, the artist Chidinma Nnoli nods to her experiences growing up in a patriarchal and Catholic home. Looking at “elements of identity, family, religion and feminism,” Nnoli (who graduated from the University of Benin), also picks apart today’s impossible beauty standards. “I try to create this utopia in my work for my figures because they’re mostly sad and mundane,” Nnoli said. Inspired by Impressionism and Renaissance art, she often drapes her figures in high necked collars, puffy sleeves and lace – showing how modesty plays into values and how women's bodies try and fit into an idealized shape.  Meanwhile, in recent works like Hold Me While We Wait, two women hold each other as two other figures watch them. Last year, New York’s Marianne Boesky Gallery hosted Nnoli’s latest body of work called When Will My Feet Catch Fire.

“I'm moving into an era of my life where I do exactly what I want, how I want, especially when it comes to my body, my style and my expression,” said visual artist and digital illustrator Renike Olusanya. Presenting her Black women in soft and subtle tones – and often in contrast to how they’re usually portrayed, which is to say “rooted in the stereotype that they (women) always have to be strong.” In her dreamlike painting She Dwells in Her Being, Olusanaya focuses on movement and expression through dance. Of her graceful figurine in Dwells, Olusanya explained  “She is how she is, and she’s absolutely comfortable with that,” adding that she’s keen to “speaking or painting what I want for myself into existence.”  The artist, who studied Visual Arts at the University of Lagos said: “I am always inspired by Black women.”