I am an artist, indigenous healer and curator from Biafra based in London. A self-taught artist, my work is a practice of channeling: I tune into the spiritual and metaphysical realms, each piece becoming a landscape to explore divinity. Most of my pieces are self-portraits: show me in the form of various ancient archetypes and deities: I am drawn to expressing sacred figures with brown and black skin. Incorporating various dried natural matter that Iโve foraged into my pieces which acts as an important bridge between worlds. I became passionate about art as a vehicle for healing after years of chronic illness, estragement and insecure housing left them feeling uprooted. Visual art is a space for me to ground, a sanctuary and a medicine. My artworks showcase my journey of self-love as an disabled african mystic who questions my lineage as a wounded healer. In 2022, I curated my first solo exhibition at Art Bypass Gallery in London with We are Sweet โArt and my arts organisation Black Mind.
๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: Mbari Awakening โฃ
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: 3rd July 2021โฃ
๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ: 3D Painting โฃ
๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ: acrylic paints, chalk pastels, glitter, Amarachiโs menstrual blood, white string, purple string, gold sequins, bay leaves, dried flower essences: red, yellow and white rose, goldleaf, black sharpie penโฃ
๐๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: This piece was an essential step in a journey of self-identifying different parts of my consciousness with greater nuance while training in archetypal psychology. It represents three distinct aspects of my unconscious - Little Rachel on the left: my inner child, Chiedozie in the centre: (my first name) the embodied goddess on earth: the awakened feminine in human form with activated powers of abundance and lastly, the ancestral spirit draped around the goddessโ shoulders on the right - Akuwamgbe (my spiritual name): โwealth should be universalโ - a representation of my ancestral self, of eternity and of the divine infinite cosmos of potential that lives in us all. My studies involve relating to aspects of self beyond the human form and exploring animal guides as well as the csomic mirrors available to us through the stars. In the piece, the hedgehog and tortoise are represented because these two animal spirits have been healing friends on my path - teaching me much (whether it be through spikes or shells) about the changeable nature of the soul and spirit. The tortoise/turtle - symbol of Agwu (divine wisdom in Igbo cosmology) has provided plentiful support in learning how to slow down, pace and learn how to ground through the chaos of embodying emotional vulnerability. Little Amarachi on the left is grieving into the sunshine - what she sees is the painful policing of Black beings by our institutions and the violence of colonialism through time.
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๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: Fragile Motherland
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๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: 23rd May 2022โฃ
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๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ: Sculptureโฃ
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๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ: Black headless and limbless mannequin, hospital shirt, gold leaf branch, dried peony stems, dried flower essences (various), โfragileโ tape, dried rose stems, ribbon and string, coloured cloth from Igboland, instruments: udu, ogene bell and ekwe aka (woodblock), work light - lit from below โฃ
๐๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: This is one of my largest installation pieces - a living honorarium to mad Black women - especially trans people raised as girls. It is a testimony to all African mothers, aunties and elder femmes across the diaspora who have been labelled mad for being unable to tolerate oppression with a smile. I use real hospital garments from one of my historic psychiatric ward admissions and unpick what โhealthcareโ means in a landscape of systemic medical harm to Black feminine bodies. I question what is femininity? Held by tape labelled โfragileโ, I bring awareness to the refusal of humanity to see that African beings raised as girls can be fragile, vulnerable and in need of care. The strings and ribbon chaotically wrapped around the sculpture are simultaneously binding as well as supportive - it seems as if the piece could fall apart at any moment while also standing strong, self assured and evolving in its delicate scaffolding.
The African feminineโs deep interconnectivity and complex entanglement with creation is depicted through the dried, foraged natural matter: a reminder that we build our new forms from the compost of our old experiences.
๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: Fragile Motherland
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๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: 23rd May 2022โฃ
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๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ: Sculptureโฃ
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๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ: Black headless and limbless mannequin, hospital shirt, gold leaf branch, dried peony stems, dried flower essences (various), โfragileโ tape, dried rose stems, ribbon and string, coloured cloth from Igboland, instruments: udu, ogene bell and ekwe aka (woodblock), work light - lit from below โฃ
๐๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ (cont.): Covering the heart of the piece is a cut off of flower-shaped ankara cloth given to me by my own earth mother, a familiar pattern that evokes a sense of the African feminineโs consistent inclination to expand beyond the circumstances we are given. The headless, limbless Black body: a theme common in my works - is a devotion to the diasporic sacred ability to transform beyond body and mind into spirit. With this piece, I reclaim the process of skin-shedding to start anew. At the base of the sculpture, I place sacred Igbo instruments: nkwe aka (a woodblock), the ogene bell and โรนdรนโ meaning 'vessel', Generally in Biafra, the รนdรน is a water jug usually played by Igbo women during ceremony. The waters being a spiritual domain of the divine feminine and a symbol of the collective unconsious, the รนdรน reminds us of the vast depths of us as vessels. It reminds us that we need tools that mirror our capacities as celestial containers and the creative melodies possible when we acknowledge emptiness. Both instruments act as important representations of the indigenous alchemical tools that have guided wise women and healers that must not be forgotten.
๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: Chinnamastika: On living while decapitated.
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๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: 30th January 2022โฃ
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๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ: 3D Paintingโฃ
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๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ: acrylic paints, oil paints, goldleaf, glitter, Amarachiโs menstrual blood, gold sequins, chalk pastels, oil pastels โฃ
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๐๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: This piece is a reimagining of the feminine spirit - Chinnamastika - the goddess of contradictions. Chinnamasta is a uniquely intense form of the divine energy Kali Ma, known as the self decapitating goddess. In Hinduism and various other spiritualities rooted in Asia, she has been received with limited perspectives and adverse reactions. Westerners often turn their nose up to the obscure and deeply esoteric aspects of spiritual awakening that she embodies. She has been demonised as a macabre psychic deviation rather than embraced for the spiritual essences that she represents: routes to self-actualisation that fly beyond preconceived ideas of conventionalism and the status quo.โฃ
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Sanskrit dictionary:
Chinna (เคเคฟเคจเฅเคจ).โp. p. [chid-kta]
1) Cut, divided, rent, chopped, riven, torn, broken.
2) Destroyed, removed; see เคเคฟเคฆเฅ (chid)
3) Decaying, declining.
4) Exhausted, tired, fatigued.
-nnฤ : A whore, harlot.
Often described as a sixteen year old girl with full breasts, Chinnamasta carries her own severed head (in a platter or a skull-bowl) in one hand. Held in the other hand is a khatri (a scimitar or knife) that she has used to decapitate herself. Like Kali, Chinnamasta is mostly depicted nude and with โdishevelled hairโ in a blood red, blue or black coloured body. Among many things, she is a meditation on the dance between sexual energy and sexual control. I was attracted to reimagining Chinnamasta in the form of the African feminine as a way to confront the body shame, sacrifice, violence, revelation and regeneration that can surface during intimacy.
"Agatha was Black - Unmasking martyrdom"
Date of Completion: 10th March 2023
Media: 32 x 40 in. on canvas
Materials including but not limited to: acrylic paints, oil paints, chalk pastels, oil pastels, burnt plastic handcuffs, dried wild mushroom, glitter, dried flower essences: yellow and red rose, lily, woolly hegnettle alka lambโs ear, chinese mock orange, daffodil, yellow stonecrop, seaweed from Lime Cay in Jamaica, bourgeon villas, purple blooms, cedar leaves, mimosa tree flowers aka natural pink silk from Jamaica, metallic pen, glitter pens, Amarachiโs menstrual blood
๐๐ฒ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: I often experience body dysmorphic states and this topic is rarely spoken about with compassion in African communities. I grieve often about the fact that African women are the only beings in living human history that have had their reproductive functions systemically enslaved - the wet nurses (then called โsucklersโ) that were forced to nurture white children while their own children were neglected. This form of psychological and reproductive torture takes lifetimes to heal. It is these taboo, post-traumatic portals that I paint with each stroke of the canvas. I confront the lived experience of Black beings raised as girls and how that socialisation still lives in our bodies, affecting our nervous systems, how we relate to our sexuality and right to choose. I have felt comfort from honouring a feminine ancestor (Agatha) who embodied a sacred โnoโ until her last breath. It is easy to feel low self esteem as a violence survivor, especially as an African femme. Painting St. Agatha has given me space to grieve the adultification of young African girls and to celebrate the supernatural resilience that disrupts every torture we face.
๐ง๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ: Remembering Biafra
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: 23rd May 2022โฃ
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๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ: Sculptureโฃ
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๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ: A Scrapbook with clippings from the Biafra Newsletter lays flat on a table covered with blue patterned cloth. At the foot of the table are two black and white photos of my parents on a bed of dried flowers and leaves. One photo is a full body image of my mum in a full length tunic/dress whilst the other is a headshot of my dad when young.
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Photo of Amarachi standing smiling in front of a pink wall. 3 of their art pieces are hanging on the wall.
Photo of Amarachi bending down with a piece of foam, using it to play the instrument โรนdรนโ. There is a collection of art pieces and artefacts in front of and around them.