FOREWORD BY CHIOMA AGBARAJI J A M I L L A O K U B O
MYTH I do not REALITY come to you as a I come to you as a
CONTENTS
6. .8 18. 30. ArtworksForewordArtistbiographyIndex12. INSPIRATION The.26 artists’s process 28. ABOUT GALLERYTHE
6 FOREWORD
Among a vast library of literature and archives filled with film photographs of 20th century Black artists, was Kara Walker’s exhibition, “Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tale of Slavery and Power” at the David C. Driskell Center.
My first show as an archival intern, I was captivated by Walker’s signature paper silhouettes set in the antebellum South. Her gesturing of the figures – Black women’s bodies in particular – portrayed both sensuality and a deep-rooted colonial gaze. It is now this same question of the “gaze” – a way of observing oneself and others – that is at the crux of Jamilla Okubo’s (b. Clinton, N.C.) latest series. Jamilla carries on the canonical interrogation of what it means for Black women to be the primary spectators within visual art, and how the canvas can be a site for reclaiming bodily, spiritual, and ancestral agency.
- Chioma Agbaraji, Manager & Curator at Mehari Sequar Gallery
“I do not come to you as a myth, I come to you as a reality” is Okubo’s sophomore presentation at Mehari Sequar Gallery, and the first of her reclaimed gaze as an artist, a Black woman, and a manifestation of ancestral dreams. She is restoring agency to what womanist scholar bell hooks calls “the oppositional gaze,” where rebellion, desire, rage, solemnity, and reflection naturally intersect. Jamilla was inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi, an Italian Baroque painter who depicted women at the forefront of her works at a time when women weren’t believed to be the protagonists in any narrative. The main characters in Jamilla’s series –the Bantu-knotted woman and her Aries ram counterpart – assert a confident selfhood to create narratives that defy reality – but that’s the point. This series is the artist’s personal reflection on Black womanhood, even where she leans into religion for resolve yet realizes her lack of inclusion in the narratives (“I do not come to you as a reality. I come to you as The Myth (Pentecost),” 2021). In its entirety, it is a complex mirror of who we are, the rest we deserve, and the work we know must continue.
Perhaps that wasn’t a fair question, because more than a call to action these works offer a profound ambiguity. Their lack of resolve reveals the anxieties of Black womanhood, while Jamilla’s signature feel good patterns and vibrant color palettes offer the power, agency, and style inspiration to move forward. The works are a breath of fresh air in a world of aesthetic purity through Instagram content or commercially driven visuals, and yet they still feel rough around the edges – inconclusive – but in a very natural and human way. This isn’t a feminist argument, but rather a necessary intervention to understand the life of Black women.
As I stepped into Jamilla’s process during the later stages, I asked her, “What is your call to action within these works? What do you want patrons to take away?”
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If we consider the two previous pieces “Melancholia as resistence (Artemisia’s most faithful mistress),” “In deep reflection with self,” and “Imagining an Alter Destiny,” (right) as a triptych, then Jamilla has used her artistry and mastery of concept to reveal to us the exhibition’s focus in just these three paintings. The Bantu-knotted main character transitions from a period of rest, and perhaps gloom, to agency in “Imagining an Alter Destiny.” Yet, her Aries ram counterpart visually questions each of these emotions through the undressed intimacy in “In deep reflection with self.” We can only imagine what ignited this pensiveness, what concerns the mind of the artist and is transferred onto the canvas. These pieces remind me of the complex emotional ebbs and flows of daily life – assertion, tiredness, and indecision – coupled with the internal self-realized (and sometimes fearful) power in all of us, especially as Black women. No matter the sequence of these pieces within the curated exhibition or just thinking through them in your head, their importance lies in revealing a universal emotional complexity that gives credence and power to the varying moments of ambiguity and fluidity as human beings.
Imagining an Alter Destiny, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas 48”x48” 11
Jamilla Okubo’s inspiration for this exhihbition came from Artemisia Gentileschi, Afrofuturism, and the emotional and spiritualexperiences of Black womenreclaiming their gaze.
bell hooks
“All attempts to repress our/black peoples’ right to gaze [has]produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire,an oppositional gaze.”
The narrative: “The story behind Judith and Holofernes is about Judith, a beautiful Jewish widow resolving to save her people by slaying Holofernes, a general of the Assyrian people sent by his King to besiege the Jewish city of Bethulia. In the story, Judith uses her beauty to seduce Holofernes in her finest clothing after reciting a long prayer to God. Inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi and her recreation of the original Carravagio, “Judith and Holofernes” painting, in this particular work I wanted to convey Black women’s rage, and a Black woman occupying a Eurocentric space. This piece symbolically explores revisioning the history of Black people and the role Black women play in it. The story of colonizers wiping out entire African diasporic communities is an all too common trope that I wanted to explore and revise.”
THE ARTIST’S PROCESS
– Jamilla Okubo 18
2. Digital sketch before painting on canvas: 3. Painting in
1. Visual reference: To reclaim the “gaze,” Jamilla uses an intersectional lens to develop a unique artistic response to the plight of Black women to create an alternate reality and a space for self-reflection.
As her work progresses, Jamilla thinks critically about how to visually challenge the viewer by skillfully using gestural imagery while still alluding to relevant cultural references – in this case the Ku Klux Klan hood commonly worn by white supremacists.
The artist then adds signature aesthetic motifs like original celestial patterns to make the work her own.
patternwork:signatureby4.progress:Finaltouchesapplying
Detail of “Medicine for a nightmare (Judith and Holofernes)” Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas 60”x48” 20
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As dynamic and active as this piece is, the most enticing part is the Black woman’s hands clasping the white figure’s neck. They’re not too tight as they grasp with urgency, but not yet decided. This speaks to Okubo’s call to action, within this piece and the series at large – and arguably as an artist. She is expressing an honest anger and plays with a desire for violence in the work, but the crowd surrounding the scene – and the artist – express a spiritual understanding that fire cannot be fought with fire. Still, we’re left with ambiguity and many more questions than answers, a critical feature in Okubo’s work where she asks us to think deeper, to intimately empathize with the characters at play and explore the themes in our own lives and how we might be called to action as a result.
Revisionist history, or the re-interpretation of a historical event, is a tool commonly used in art, history, and literature to critique the exclusion of intersectional voices and perspectives in history.
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And that’s a good question. Still today Jesus Christ is racially imbued with Eurocentric motifs. Yet, nearly 80% of Black communities identify as Christian, a religion that rarely caters to their livelihoods through literature and certainly not imagery. There’s also a contemporary cultural motif here: #believeblackwomen. Trending today along with the likes of #metoo, Megan Thee Stallion, and Stacey Abrams, the artist is questioning what happens when Black woman are exalted at the center of the narrative – acting as primary knowledge sources – trusted, and respected. Jamilla Okubo is carrying the baton of Black women’s scholarship forward by inviting deeper conversations about how we can look to Black women and their ancestral spiritual practices for keys to living ethical lives.
“[I’m] questioning, and sometimes poking fun at religion and Blackwomen’s place in history. How is it possible that Black women werenot mentioned in these parables or biblical accounts, consideringBlack people were the first peoples, and every other race aredescendants of Black people?”
In the exhibition’s namesake piece, Jamilla symbolically explores revisioning the history of Black women in Biblical texts.
Jamilla Okubo
JOAMILLAKUBO
Jamilla Okubo is an interdisciplinary artist exploring the intricacies of belonging to an American, Kenyan, and Trinidadian identity. Combining figurative painting, pattern/textile design, fashion, and storytelling, she celebrates the Black body in relation to movement, expression, ideology, and culture. Inspired by kanga cloth, which communicate messages derived from Swahili proverbs, quotes from the Qur’an, African folklore and popular culture, Okubo creates her own patterns in reference to the history, mythology, and vernacular of the African diaspora. She prints these original patterns on paper as collage material for her paintings or on fabric for fashion and performance-based work. The gestural strength of her imagery and symbolism is a platform for restoring agency and reclaiming the oppositional gaze. Style, embraced for sociopolitical impact, woven with ancestral and contemporary wisdom invites the viewer to reflect on old and new mythologies, alternative realities, and self-love.
Jamilla (b. Clinton, NC) is based in Washington, D.C. She holds a BFA in Integrated Design from Parsons the New School of Design. Her inaugural solo exhibition “Ain’t going to tell you no story, ain’t going to tell you no lie” was hosted at Mehari Sequar Gallery in 2019. Other national and international exhibtions include venues such as The Torpedo Factory (VA), Milk Gallery (NY), and the Dray Walk Gallery (London). She has created art installations for Facebook, Apple, and the Line Hotel (DC). In addition, other notable collaborations include Oprah Magazine and Christian Dior. Currently, she is represented by Mehari Sequar Gallery. 27
ABOUT 28
Mehari Sequar Gallery is an independent art gallery located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2019, the Gallery is dedicated to articulating global narratives by examining the world through contemporary art. We champion a diverse range of established, emerging and international artists from the African diaspora who explore conceptual approaches and embrace the freedoms of artistic expression across all mediums. The Gallery also serves as a hub for artists and art scholars who interrogate the influence of Black arts and culture across hemispheres. We are committed to promoting new artistic expressions, innovation, and fostering interactive art experiences.
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INDEX 30
By order of appearance Cover & Page 11: Imagining an Alter Destiny, 2021, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas, 48”x48” Page 3: She lives in my head rent free, 2021, Acrylic on canvas, 36”x48” Page 8: Melancholia as resistance (Artemisia’s most faithful mistress), 2021, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas, 36”x48” Page 9: In deep reflection with self, 2021, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas, 48”x48” Page 14: Because that’s what black people are, Myths (Sun Ra), 2021, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas, 48”x60” Page 15: ”A Threat and Proud” -Amanda Gordon, 2021, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas, 48”x60” Page 16-17: Medicine for a nightmare (Judith & Holofernes), 2021, Mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 60”x48” Page 23: I do not come to you as a reality. I come to you as The Myth (Pentecost), 2021, Mixed media, Acrylic on canvas, 72”x96” Page 24-25: Rest In Peace (Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy), 2021, Mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 72”x60” 31