I kept wanting to push my image as validity; I wanted to see my portrait on a wall and know it was okay.
Toyin OdutolaI moved around a lot when I was a child; two of the houses I grew up in have totally disappeared. One was burnt in a riot, and the other was pulled down.
Toyin OdutolaFor a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not.
Toyin OdutolaBeing a black artist, the first thing people want to talk about is your blackness, the importance of your blackness and your black presence.
Toyin OdutolaWhere some may see flat, static narratives, I see a spectrum of tonal gradations and realities. What I am creating is literally black portraiture with ballpoint pen ink. I'm looking for that in-between state in an individual where the overarching definition is lost. Skin as geography is the terrain I expand by emphasizing the specificity of blackness, where an individualโs subjectivity, various realities and experiences can be drawn onto the diverse topography of the epidermis. From there, the possibilities of portraying a fully-fledged person are endless.
Toyin Odutola