The Black Effect: Joy in Identity

The Black Effect: Joy in Identity
4-30 October 2022
SMO Contemporary Art is pleased to present The Black Effect: Joy In Identity, a group exhibition featuring works by Abisola Gbadamosi, Alexander Ikhide, Alvaro Barrington, Ayesha Feisal, Cameron Ugbodu, Gary March, Koby Martin, Sola Olulode and Umseme Uyakhuluma

The Black Effect: Joy in Identity is inspired by the popular notion of ‘The Butterfly Effect’, which explores the idea that something small can have a much larger effect, such as altering one’s entire life path. ‘The Butterfly Effect’ rests on the principle that the world is deeply interconnected and that small occurrences often influence a much larger, complex system. In celebration of Black History Month we are delighted to spotlight nine dynamic Black British artists who explore the concept of joy and identity within the Black British community, and whose works have had a powerful Black Effect. The selected artists specifically navigate the undeniable power and the measurable influence that Black people have had on British culture and wider popular culture.

In celebration of Black History Month we are delighted to spotlight nine dynamic Black British artists who explore the concept of joy and identity within the Black British community, and whose works have had a powerful Black Effect. The selected artists specifically navigate the undeniable power and the measurable influence that Black people have had on British culture and wider popular culture.
Sola Olulode
"Sunshine radiates the idea of living in a bubble of new found love and the joy that those giddy emotions bring"

Sola Olulode is a British-Nigerian artist born in 1996 in London. Her paintings explore notions of race, history, being and belonging. Olulode celebrates all facets of Black identity feminity and non-binary individuals. The bodies of these Black figures tend to take up a lot of space, dominating the majority of the canvas boldly and unapologetically. Her paintings depict her personal experiences, she is very much interested in celebrating the relationships between Black women, translating the beauty, vulnerability and essence of these encounters onto the canvas. She is aware of the traditional archaic illustrations of ‘Black Love’ often plagued with notions of struggle and despair. Olulode is aware of the lack of representation of Black figures in more serene settings, in love, at rest or simply just in a state of being and existing beyond traditional societal barriers. Olulode’s use of warm balmy colours give her work a restful ambiance, for her the the Black experience needs to be celebrated, in her own experience it’s always been there but she aims to capture and spotlight it where others individuals from similar backgrounds can connect and relate with it or those who are not can at least engage and begin to understand on a much deeper level.
Koby Martin
"Art in any form has the ability to heal, restore, uplift and drive the spirits of us humans in many ways. It is therapy"

Koby Martin is a Ghanian born British based artist. He was born in Accra, Ghana in 1988 before moving to London at the age of 19, He currently resides and works in South London. Koby’s work is an introspective autobiographical exploration of his life which portrays the inclusive human experience of dealing with emotions, memories, thoughts and feelings that we all undeniably feel. Through emotive figures, subjects and abstract forms, he captures beautifully the human essence of both courage and sadness which is a constant theme throughout his work that is expressed in both traditional and digital mediums. Throughout his career, Koby has been responsible for various creative contents on a global level for artists including Krept & Konan, Wizkid, J Hus, Wretch 32, Chronixx, Tinie Tempah and many more.
Umseme Uyakhuluma
Umseme Uyakhuluma is one of the latest projects by artist Zana Masombuka, which is a collaboration led by an all-women team from South Africa to Côte d’Ivoire. Directly translated ‘Umseme Uyakhuluma’ means ‘The Straw Mat Speaks’, referencing one of Africa’s most ancient ways of recording information using grass, an endlessly renewable material.

The core collective is made up of Lafalaise Dion (producer, costume designer and actress) whose work with cowrie shells has been incorporated symbolically into the project (you would've previously seen her work in Beyonce's 'Black is King' and 'Spirit'); Tsholofelo Maseko (producer, art director and actress) a familiar face from integral South African television shows and films; Mapula Lehong (sound designer and editor), a SAFTA award-winning sound designer and multi-hyphenate whose poetry features in Zanele Muholi's SomnyamaNgonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness; Boiphelo Khunou (videographer) a multidisciplinary artist and founder of archival platform BOTAKI KE BOTSHELO which merges education and curation of creativity from Africa; and Bontle Juku (photographer), a visual artist and conceptual photographer whose work explores narratives and sociopolitical discourse surrounding the Black body. She was one of Design Indaba's Emerging Creatives in 2020. Including Zana (producer, conceptual director, art director and actress), the core team were supported by a larger cast and crew of women of all ages.
Ayesha Feisal
Ayesha Feisal is a British-Sierra Leonean artist born in London, where she currently resides and works. As an interdisciplinary artist, Feisal creates complex, amorous forms, drawing inspiration from the study of behaviour and the mind, whilst exploring the effects of experience. Influenced by the the expressionist and futurist movement; her intrigue comes from how artists of such eras depicted meaning and experience; as well as movement and time. As a result, she displays intense – and sometimes unnatural – colours as a way to heighten the emotion in her work.

Feisal’s art is reflective of her interest in psychological states and she uses the human form as a means to explore the psyche. Her works have been an ongoing response to events and situations; influenced by her interest in consciousness, universal law, balance and truth. She is drawn to portray characters with elevated mind sets, who move beyond the impact of circumstance, environment and social condition.
Cameron Ugbodu
'I want Black people to feel seen but also celebrated'

Cameron Ugbodu is an Nigerian-Austrian artist born in Mautern an der Donau, Austria in 2000. Ugbodu is a queer artist and member of the Black Photographers Network, a UK wide group of contemporary Black practitioners of lens based fine art. After leaving his home town at the age of 17 to move to Vienna he eventually made the permanent move to London in 2019. For the first time, he witnessed how Black culture was accepted and celebrated in such a way that he had never witnessed, growing up in a predominantly White town as one of the few Black people. He spent his formative years creating as a coping mechanism, manufacturing the world around him as a form of escapism. Ugbodu’s work explores the concept of community and belonging while drawing and looking back into his Nigerian heritage and ancestry.
Alvaro Barrington
'When you look at my paintings, you’re encountering parts of my identity. I grew up in a culture where it was really about erasing hierarchies, where we’re all participating in cultural production'

Born in Venezuela to Grenadian and Haitian migrant workers, Alvaro Barrington was raised between the Caribbean and Brooklyn, New York, by a network of relatives. An unwavering commitment to community informs his wide-ranging practice. While Barrington considers himself primarily a painter, his artistic collaborations encompass exhibitions, performances, concerts, fashion, philanthropy and contributions to the Notting Hill Carnival in London. His approach to painting is similarly inclusive – embracing non-traditional materials and techniques such as burlap, concrete, cardboard and sewing – and infused with references to his personal and cultural history.

Influence and exchange are crucial to Barrington, who draws upon a host of artistic and cultural references in his work. His personal touchstones include rapper Tupac Shakur and 90s hip-hop culture, jazz and the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s,
Alexander Ikhide
Alexander Ikhide is a multidisciplinary visual artist born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1993. Ikhide works and resides in London after moving in 2007. Working across photography, collage (analogue/digital), painting and drawing, exploring ideas of the body as well as a merging of photography and painting to produce mixed media works on paper. Through a method of gestural abstraction and mark making with paint, reminiscent of abstract expressionism. The tensions that arise between photography and painting as both distinct forms of representation in art become blurred and indistinguishable. By disrupting an expectant representation of the figurative in his work, and instead opting for a more investigative narrative into an interiority that is fundamentally human and of shared experience, tapping into the subconscious and conscious drives that are both visceral and intuitive in nature to explore new forms and approaches to image making.
Gary March
Gary March is a contemporary artist, sculptor and designer of Afro-Caribbean descent, born in 1977 in Birmingham, UK. He currently lives and works in London. He is an artist who is greatly influenced by his surroundings and environment. All his works are created through found materials that he personally sources and locates. The materials that he uses vary, he is not particular about what he uses however he recognises each material brings new challenges but also new discoveries. He allows himself to be led by the materials, understanding their limitations but also being completely open to where the journey of creation might take him. A lot of his works are made outside within nature at his studio in Hackney.

He is interested in the interplay between light, colour and form. Influenced by the way the light falls on certain materials and casts shadows ans shapes. These external factors are incoporated into his creation process. As an artist, he is committed to utilising materials and products that are not necessarily conventional.
Abisola Gbadamosi
"MY CREATIVE PROCESS CAN BE VERY PERSONAL. SOMETIMES, I SIT AND RESEARCH ON SOME THINGS I’D LIKE TO SHARE OR EXPRESS BUT, MOST OF THE TIME, I JUST FLOW AS THE EMOTIONS FLOW"

Abisola Kuburat Gbadamosi is a visual artist born in 1995 in Nigeria. Originally from Ibadan, Oyo state she grew up spending the majority of her formative years between Lagos and London. Gbadamosi’s work focuses on the interplay between light and colour, spirituality, everyday life and loss. Having experienced the loss of both her parents at a relatively young age she turned to art as a form of therapy, a way of processing her most inner thoughts and working through conflicting emotions which she struggled to vocalise. The use of watercolour gives her works a distinct and noticeable style which she uses to create ethereal portraits, successfully translating her different states of consciousness. The two works made specifically for The Black Effect are from her 2022 series titled Dide which means ‘Rise’ in Yoruba.
(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

(Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

Sola Olulode
Eternal Light, 2020
Ink, acrylic and wax on canvas
210 x 150 cm

Enquire

%3Cp%3ESola%20Olulode%3C/p%3E%3Cp%20dir%3D%26%2334%3Bltr%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cspan%3EEternal%20Light%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%3E%2C%202020%3C/span%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%20dir%3D%26%2334%3Bltr%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cspan%3EInk%2C%20acrylic%20and%20wax%20on%20canvas%3C/span%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%20dir%3D%26%2334%3Bltr%26%2334%3B%3E%3Cspan%3E210%20x%20150%20cm%20%3C/span%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E%3Cspan%3E%26%23160%3B%3C/span%3E%3C/p%3E

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.

Viewing room

Please provide your contact information to view this page.

Email address *

First name

Last name

By submitting this form you will be added to our mailing list.

Enter

Back to homepage

* denotes required fields

The Black Effect: Joy in Identity : SMO Contemporary Art presents THE BLACK EFFECT: Joy in Identity a group exhibition featuring nine Black British visual artists.

Sola Olulode

Koby Martin

Umseme Uyakhuluma

Ayesha Feisal

Cameron Ugbodu

Alvaro Barrington

Alexander Ikhide

Gary March

Abisola Gbadamosi

Cookie preferences

Join our mailing list

Viewing room

Please check your email