Fixed Things and Flying Things the body in parts, here and there the world in parts Atlantic Lace, Balogun Market Sound man hears the wind We've passed this way before (Duck, don't stumble

2019 - Painting (Painting)

8 panels each: 106 x 61 cm

Wura-Natasha Ogunji

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Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s recent drawing of cutout figures on architectural tracing paper takes a statement by Leoluca Orlando, the Mayor of Palermo, as a point of departure for the work. Stating, “migration problems can and should find their solution within the affirmation of ‘freedom of movement’ as the new inalienable right of humans. No human has chosen or chooses the place where they were born. Everyone should instead be recognized as having the right to choose where to live, the right to live better and not to die.” She re-imagines the idea and struggles of feeling at home in the context of the human proclivity for living in constant search for greener pastures. In her words: “I am interested in how we make home outside of, and beyond sites of origin. For me, there is a constant negotiation between belonging, which might suggest stasis, and change, which allows for an expanded sense of self, family, home, and language. I wonder if a quality of being human is a never-ending sense of exile. Is it possible that we are always looking for that perfect place to land, and that we actually never arrive- that history and circumstance are forever interrupting this journey, so that movement is all we have?”

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Wura-Natasha Ogunji is a visual artist and performer. Her works include drawings, videos and public performances and her practice is deeply inspired by the daily interactions and frequencies that occur in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, from the epic to the intimate. Ogunji’s performances explore the presence of women in public space; these often include investigations of labor, leisure, freedom and frivolity. By exploring the physicality of body, gestures and our relationship to geographical, architectural and filmic space, as well as memory, history and impossible moments in time, Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s work harmonizes experiences of living between Austin, USA and Lagos over several years and uniquely extends the interface of drawing, video and performance art.

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Colors:

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• migration.n.01
• motion.n.06
• border.v.05
• drawing.n.03
• freedom.n.01