In the last few posts we looked at the theme of the collage through the work of artists expressing themselves with videos and static images, but there are artists that use this technique in a more subtle way.
If you look at Njideka Akunyili Crosby's paintings for example, you will see portraits and domestic interiors, scenes that at times feature her and her family.
Some details like decorative ceiling tiles and air conditioning units, crocheted sofa covers and a paraffin lamp set on a table evoke memories of Nigeria, while an Ikea floor lamp, a French door fridge freezer and a MacBook, tell us we are in a Western style apartment.
The interiors look flat, but, at the same time, they are very deep: windows, doorways and satin curtains frame openings and lead the viewer onto other spaces, while screen walls reveal the architectures behind.
If you focus on the floors or on the chairs you will discover that they are populated with faces; these collaged transferred appropriated portraits at times also seem to have links with fashion as some of the images show models on a runway.
By incorporating these appropriated images into her works, the artist adds a lot of information to the paintings, while populating them with hundreds of people even when the main subjects are actually absent and architectures prevail.
A member of the Nigerian diaspora, Njideka Akunyili Crosby emigrated to the United States to study as a teenager and this dichotomy between her origins and her adoptive country often ends up creating interesting combinations of influences like the one between Nigerian and Western interiors.
In her painting "Janded", Crosby opts for a minimalist approach with a portrait that looks from a distance like a dark rectangle but that, as you get closer, reveals a woman with a Western hairstyle borrowed from Tyra Banks, an antique white alabaster cameo earring and a Yoruba tribal scar on her cheek.
The scar is a mark that indicates the woman comes from a rural setting or a village, but the hairstyle and earring that evokes memories of Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring", connect her with another life outside Nigeria. The title of the painting comes indeed from Nigerian slang "jand" as a noun and as a verb, meaning "abroad" and "to travel abroad".
Through this woman Njideka Akunyili Crosby represents therefore a meeting of cultures and the way she looks outside the frame is inspiring, inviting us to walk towards the future embracing dichotomies, contrasts and differences.
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