From February 24-March 13, showing at Gallery 918

Gallery 918 Hours: Sunday-Friday, 12pm-5pm; Wednesday 12pm-8pm

Opening Reception: Thursday February 24, 7pm-Midnight

A celebration of Black History Month taking prominent black icons over the past century, from Rosa Parks to Obama and showing them as pop culture heroes. For instance, Malcolm X as Superman.

Artist Statement:

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always liked to draw and tell stories of heroes, fantasy and
mythology. And even though I grew up in Nigeria, where the culture and heritage was rich and
powerful, my stories were western with strong elements of American representation of heroes.
Which draws its ideas from Christianity i.e. Superman, a celestial force born to a humble family,
he grows up to become a champion for the world.

Over the years my work has evolved to be more afro-centric, not only because I wish to celebrate
my “African–ness” but just the fact that there is so much that hasn’t been explored in black and
African culture. And I wish to explore a lot of this ideology with my art.

So for this show, AlterEgo, I wanted to celebrate Black History Month by taking prominent
black icons over the past century, from Rosa Parks to Obama and, show them as the pop culture
heroes that I loved growing up.

The hope is to bring a little bit more “Bang!” to Black History month and what we celebrate
so we see that there is so much we share as a people and blur out the lines of those things that
divide us.”