{"product_id":"things-fall-apart-chimemelie-okafor","title":"Things Fall Apart | Chimemelie Okafor","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003eMy 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy 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.\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eInstagram: @chi.mejo\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","offers":[{"title":"48 X 60 in.","offer_id":48070662914306,"sku":null,"price":7000.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/files\/ChimemelieOkafor_ThingsFallApart_web.jpg?v=1783021786","url":"https:\/\/bau-xi.com\/en-it\/products\/things-fall-apart-chimemelie-okafor","provider":"Bau-Xi Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}