This series speaks about what the body holds, the change, the trauma, the identities. It follows the metaphysical body as it finds, interacts and forms with these other parts of itself. We see what is hidden, what breathes life into our other forms, what takes it away and so on.

“Save me father for I have lived” is an experimental documentary installation piece that discusses the connection between suffering and growth. It is a plea for comfort from a father who has left the earth as the different versions of the same child learn to live with this loss. For the installation of this piece. Viewers were ushered into a dark quiet room where they were asked to kneel infront of the screen, on cushions that were provided. Mimicking the Catholic church, this created a sense of being on holy ground. Viewers thus became witnesses to this holy plea for comfort.

This is the pain in stillness and the peace in loneliness that can only exist under water. It is ocean filled lungs and saltwater eyes, an alternative pleasure. This is the feeling before the surface. It is the moment in time that comes before the solitude of being a part of the world. “The Christening” was inspired by a moment where I nearly drowned in a swimming pool full of my family members. In an attempt to swim over to them my foot got tangled in a pool divider, which subsequently flipped me upside down causing me to struggle to untangle myself as I attempted to reach for the surface to get someone’s attention. While underwater, I felt as though the world had left me and I was the only person that existed. For the first time I completely understood the solitude of existing and confirmed it once I reached the surface. I swam over to my family members to tell them what had happened but before I could, my sister looked at me and said “I forgot you were even here, where did you go?

Virtual reality viewing: https://v21artspace.com/arit-emmanuela-etukudo-the-christening *Please enter the 2nd room

This is a detail photo of my moving image installation piece The Christening. The piece is about the acceptance of loss without reconciliation. VR view: https://v21artspace.com/arit-emmanuela-etukudo-the-christening More info is in my Moving Image Installations project folder.

I placed hand sculpted clay masks in the water and allowed them to dissolve over the course of the exhibition, by the end of the exhibition a majority of the mask were completely melted while others only showed evidence of what used to be a face-like shape. The melted masks in the water discuss the feeling of an unknown yet evident loss, where I know that something was lost in the water that day but can’t recall what it was.

Black sand was placed and piled up around the perimeter of the installation base. This created an unearthing effect, where it seemed as if this event has been lifted out of a different realm and placed within the space.

Navigating my black body through assemblies of white filled spaces. Party lights distort the room, turning faces from shadow to light then back again, but my face remains shadow. Hands reached towards me, touching my hair, my face, my skin. Trying to take me a part and put me back together like I’m puzzle pieces they could ever understand. Comparing my skin to whatever brown foods they can think of, describing my own hair to me, turning my body into a performance for their enjoyment. But my body, my being, my existence is not performance, nor toy, nor food. “The Problem of the Negrophiliac” is a video installation piece that combines music, spoken word and video to create an interactive and confrontational experience for the viewers. The piece uses voyeurism to express the forced performance/zoo-like approaches of and to black bodies in predominantly white social settings. For the installation of this piece, I played 2 video clips on a total of 6 old television monitors.

Installation detail - video

Un-stretched canvas print. 32x48inches. 2021. This piece is part of my "Sankofa" collection which explores the journey to self-discovery through recovery and retrieval. The first photo signifies the turning of the head. The thought of turning your head to the back of your body is obviously painful but I wanted to highlight an emotional pain too. You’re deciding to go back to even the darkest parts of yourself and face them head on, converse with them and at times even battle them.

This piece is part of the "Sankofa" collection which explores the journey to self-discovery through recovery and retrieval. This is the first unlocking of the mind. In the background, behind this figures head we see an ouroboros which symbolizes an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth. This symbol is a foreshadowing of the endlessness of completing finding one’s self. That this unlocking that is happening is only the first of many. We go deeper and deeper into the self without knowing whether or not there is an end to it. We do it anyways because it’s a sacrifice that needs to be made.