Things Fall Apart | Chimemelie Okafor
"My work explores themes of Indigenous knowledge systems, womanhood, and ongoing social issues connected to my home country. I often use metaphor and satire to explore complex topics, placing figures in moments of gesture within surreal, collage-like spaces. My painting process involves building layers of colour and pattern using oil paint.
These layered surfaces create visually engaging compositions while also reflecting the material and process-based qualities of West African textile production. After learning that many textiles commonly associated with African identity have histories shaped through colonial trade, I became interested in developing my own visual language rather than referencing existing designs.
My most recent body of work focuses on concepts of time within Igbo culture, going through stages of decolonization, starting from progressing from pre-colonial understandings of time to colonial disruption, resistance, and a re-centering of Igbo knowledge as a complete and self-sustaining framework. Recurring motifs such as circles, spirals, curved lines, and polka dots represent the spiralic flow of time understood by the Igbo people of Nigeria."
Instagram: @chi.mejo
