Toyin Ojih Odutola

toyin ojih odutola

WORDS Mary Garner


Nigerian-born artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, who grew up in Alabama in the USA, creates emotive ink and pen drawings that come alive with the reality of living the black experience.

Toyin, who got her MFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, captures movement beautifully in her work, with a textured, layered style.

When describing her choice of materials in an interview with the New York Times, she says, “I used pen and ink, in part because I couldn’t afford my art supplies. The pen is a writing tool first. In West Africa, where the narrative tradition is oral, the visual bridges the written and the spoken. Yes, I was drawing. But it was, to me, a form of letter-writing too.”

She sees her art as letters written to people who look like her so that they can see themselves in her image while reflecting on the depths of brown skin. “The epidermis packs so much. Why would you limit it to the flattest blackness possible?”

(h/t) nytimes.com

As a kid, I always felt that art was beyond me. Even though I loved to draw more than anything–to the point where it affected my breathing–it always felt like a dream that I could only entertain as a hobby. Who was I to aspire to anything more than what was expected of me? This included my deepest fears and doubts. But every once in awhile, when the check came in from my temp job, I’d rush to the bookstore to get the latest periodicals: @artforum, @artnewsmag and @juxtapozmag were the constant. I’d pour over those pages–eyes gobbling up everything–just to live vicariously through those stories, the artists, the art…. All the while, NEVER conceiving the possibility that I might be included in that world, to hold my own amongst so many I admired–to see my family’s names on those pages one day. 2017 has been one hell of a year, and with all the insanity that is happening, I am so grateful to be doing what I do. This moment is for 14 year old Toyin, who never thought she was good enough; who always cried because she was terrified to risk anything with the possibility of failure; who said “no” to herself so many times; who thought she was a waste of space…. That girl is still in me, I sometimes catch a memory from her and we both see through the same eyes. I wish I could go back and hug her, and show her the woman she has become. But more than anything, I want to give her this issue, so she can see her name and pour over the pages, knowing–SEEING–that she did in fact dare to dream and that dream is in print, in these very pages. Completely floored and honored to be the cover feature of @juxtapozmag’s November 2017 issue. It’s been a journey, and I’m not done. ??✨? — #ToyinOjihOdutola

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#PartsOfADrawing #WorksOfProgress #Detail #ToyinOjihOdutola

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