Contact Zone

Through their own unique interior language- Oluwole Omofemi, Elfreda Fakoya, and Blebo- all embody a recognition of authorship; the knowing that their work is both a preservation of the individual self and a conservation of collective identity. In this reunion of states, their work extends beyond the visual lens and requires a reconciliation of the past.

Oluwole Omofemi distinguishes his volumetric silhouettes by subtly imbuing them with a narrative charge that encourages the viewer to consume not the character, but instead their existence. In turn, his portraits remain an authentic celebration of humanity, where creativity and courage are unified into a singular critical sensitivity. The temporal ambiguity of Omofemi’s work is evidence of both his acute memory from sight but also a willingness to transcend the boundaries of the present and give life to the rich possibilities of the future. This longitudinal dialogue- between time, place, and being- radiates an encyclopaedic knowledge of self.

Elfreda Fakoya invites us to use the boundless geography of the imagination to broaden our understanding of the right to language and self-articulation- in essence, the independence of our sensory modalities as active participants in providing alternative topographies, where vulnerability and transformation may take place. In her Seeds of Becoming series, Fakoya offers a spatial interpretation of how the viewer can recognise the synthesis between the landscape and the self, both bodies metaphorically coming together and falling apart, in a continuous dance of tension and renewal. For Fakoya, we are not rigid representations of an idea but creatively elastic entities, fracturing and refiguring elements of ourselves, ever-evolving.

Blebo examines the lyrical form of abstraction in accordance with the guiding principles of nature, producing alchemical emulations of human complexity. These melodic drawings, expanding and contracting in a poetic rhythm of flow and unfolding, serve as visual typographies of ecological laws. Each line, with its own energetic diversity, cooperates with another in order to create a final outcome. Imperfection and impermanence become the formal tools of function. Thus, Blebo’s images are universal considerations of our cyclical environment and the capacity to learn from it by cultivating our curiosity.