Toyin Ojih Odutola is Nigerian-born and New York-based artist, a contemporary visual artist known for her vivid multimedia drawings and works on paper.
Her unique style of complex mark-making and lavish compositions rethink the category and traditions of portraiture and storytelling.
Ojih Odutola’s artwork often investigates a variety of themes from socio-economic inequality, the legacy of colonialism, queer and gender theory, notions of blackness as a visual and social symbol, as well as experiences of migration and dislocation.
She carries remarkable confidence and a sense of self in her art as well as in her personality.
Ojih Odutola is best known for her detailed portrait drawings, entirely or primarily done in black pen ink.
Her more recent work has expanded to include charcoal, pastel, chalk, and pencil. However, the artist does not consider herself a portraitist, the subjects of her drawings are drawn from many different people.
She has been awarded different awards, such as:-
2007: Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship Grant, Yale University.
2008: Erzulie Veasey Johnson Painting & Drawing Award, University of Alabama in Huntsville.
2011: Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship Award, The San Francisco Foundation.
2017: Lida A. Orzeck Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, Barnard College.
2018: Rees Visionary Award, Amref Health Africa and many others.
Credit: Pinterest, Pulseng, Wikipedia
Written by: Mariam Badmus