Centering his mixed-media artworks within his identity as a person of color who lives in an evolving “global environment”, Emeka Udemba creates figurative artworks which offer space for speculations, free-flow of ideas, discoveries, and transformation.
Growing up in Enugu, a city in the eastern part of Nigeria, Udemba’s initial contact with art was watching over his father’s shoulder, a London trained forensic photographer. His father took portraits of his friends who came to their house and covered social events like weddings, birthdays, and funerals for those who asked for his service. Before the advent of color photography in Nigeria, his father would manually color some of these photographs with acrylic artist paint and brush. These creative moments with his father acted as a catalyst for him ultimately decided to study art and art education at the University of Lagos, in Nigeria. After graduating and exhibiting his work in Nigeria, he developed a connection to an art and language residency program in Germany, thus starting his bi-national career.
“My work over the years is influenced by my encounters and experiences of living and working between two distinct worlds/spaces (Africa/Europe). In my practice, I often look to use contemporary art to call attention to social issues as a way to build community and build stronger networks. As an artist of colour, living in the diaspora, I explore the issues of identity, otherness, systemic biases and epistemic colonialism through the juxtaposition of history and the contemporary by appropriating and utilization of materials and forms to connect the past with the present.”
Udemba’s artworks revolve around issues of “otherness”. He creates images weaving together materials and fragments that invite us to question and reimagine new landscapes of memory, history, the present, and the future. These artworks speak beyond the geographies of hierarchy, power, conquest, and dominance. They allude to landscapes where we can all celebrate humanity and our differences. Ultimately, Udemba’s work is about visibility, empowerment, and solidarity.
