Description
‘Plantain Woman’ by Odera Igbokwe
Artist: Odera Igbokwe
Title: ‘Plantain Woman’
Medium: Acrylic on watercolour paper
Dimensions: 10″ x 8″
Framing: Framed (frame size: 11″ x 9.25″)
Year of Creation: 2020
About the Artwork:
“PLANTAIN WOMAN displays a Black femme forest spirit reclining amongst billowing plantain and banana leaves. She dons the plantain as jewelry, while gazing into the distance. This painting is a reminder of how even the most casual and omnipresent comfort food, can also function as a moment of rest and magic.” – Odera Igbokwe
About the Artist:
(Artist bio)
Odera Igbokwe (They/Them & He/Him) is an illustrator and painter located on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Odera loves to explore storytelling through mythology, reclamations, and transformations. Their work is a celebration of the fullness of self, the power to envision, and fantasy as a gateway to healing from collective and generational traumas.
Odera was born of Nigerian parents who immigrated to the United States, and as a result their work explores the magic of the Black Queer imagination, and responds to the fractures that occur via diaspora and displacement. Ultimately their paintings celebrate joy, mundanity, and fantasy coexisting alongside pain and healing. As an artist and illustrator, Odera works with clients and galleries to create work that is deeply personal, soulful, and intersectional.
Odera holds a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and studied West African Dance Movement and Theatre Arts at Brown University with New Works/World Traditions. Their work has featured in exhibitions, publishing, and gaming. Recent collaborations and exhibitions include working with Scholastic, HarperCollins, Twitter, Patreon, Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, and Holt Renfrew.