When Njideka Akunyili (b.1983) left Lagos for the U.S. at age 16 she detoured from her initial plan to be a doctor to pursue painting and fulfill the urge to tell another side of Nigeria’s story. “America has a lot of people talking about how Nigeria doesn’t,” she says.
“Often people have a singular view about Nigeria and Africa. But problems of misrepresentation happen when people tell your story for you.” To posit a pronounced, but hybridized voice she fuses painting, drawing, collage and the use of transfers – a typically Western printing process that involves transferring ink from photographs using solvent.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, I Always Face You, Even When It Seems Otherwise, 2012
Acrylic, pastel, charcoal, colored pencil, collage and transfers on paper , 198.12 x 198.12 cm each, 78 x 78 in each
Courtesy the Artist, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Victoria Miro, London
© Njideka Akunyili Crosby