Ojulowo
A Multifaceted Self, or Learning to see old work in new light part i
In order to make sense of this moment, I realised I must ritualise it, to acknowledge the sacredness of this space that I inhabit. It is indeed sacred, a manifestation of my devotion, my commitment to transformation, expansion, and the complication of normative ways of being.
‘Ojulowo’ video (stills), 2014
‘Ojulowo’ is currently on display as part of CONVERSATIONS at Walker Art Gallery Liverpool.
What does it mean to be Yorùbá in the diaspora at this time, without access to the language or close family connection due to trauma, inherited and otherwise?
Reflecting on how I got here,
Finding new ways to look at old work
Artwork as process of transformation
Evidence of our existence
Tracking the journey
Making space for what’s to come
Has been a long time commitment.
In 2014, ‘Ojulowo’ was one of four videos from what I term the ETV series that began to take shape visually; I had written several of the songs, at least two from this series, around 2012 during a residency at Kingsgate Workshops Trust in West Hampstead.
The series started when I was commissioned to perform as part of an event titled ‘Transforming Stories’, funded by Arts Council, with Pink Fringe also involved. My first performance took place at Oval House Theatre in Vauxhall in 2014. Sadly, Oval House no longer exists at that location. Early on in these performances, I introduced the first version of ‘Disco Breakdown’. Elements of ‘Ojulowo’ feature a segment where I make up bounty balls, a record of what was earlier part of the ArtFunShack! performances.
‘ArtFunShack!’ trailer clip, animation and jingle by The Mollusc Dimension
The performance toured; after London, I performed in Bradford and did several versions at Marlborough Theatre in Brighton. Around this time, I shared another related performance piece ‘PREFORM edition’ at an exhibition called What is Queer Today is Not Queer Tomorrow at NGBK in Berlin in 2014. I explored the role of the pop star and TV presenter further as part of the Sound Gender Feminism Activism festival that same year.
In a write up of my work in 2015, Jade Montserrat (whose drawings also feature prominently within the Conversations exhibition) wrote:
Ifekoya, “genuine, original, authentic” (Ojulowo), appropriates pop culture, mixing disco grooves with hip-hop beats to question legacy, fandom, identity and accepted notions of beauty. The artist becomes vlogger, music video sensation and host to a fictional children’s TV show. Ifekoya spells out a new vocabulary for our digital age, highlighting, for example, the need for gender-neutral pronouns that so desperately require assimilation.
Videos I made around this time often incorporated hand made or collaged elements. ‘Ojulowo’ features details of felt pen drawings I made a couple of years prior.
‘Untitled #1’, felt pen drawing on paper, 2012 framed 36 x 28 cm
“O Ju Lo Wo
O Ju Lo Wo
Genuine, original authentic Genuine, original authentic x2
What makes me authentically?
Is it when I’m brushing my teeth?
Or maybe when I do my hair?
Coz I get down like I don’t even care”
What makes me authentically?
“Ojulowo, lighthearted and satirical, ends with a mock-cooking show. This time Ifekoya walks us through a bounty ball recipe – a candy that is dark on the outside, white on the inside. In this cheeky pun, questions of a genuine, inside connection to one’s ‘Black culture’ is brought in relation to the recipe book, a tool which makes these elements, supposedly of authenticity, performable by anyone.”
-Taylor Le Melle on the video for LUX New Artist Focus, 2021
In the sacredness of the mundane I develop a true and authentic perception of my reality. Thinking through legacy, thinking through genealogy, thinking about belonging. As a Black person, as a Nigerian person -Yorùbá specifically, as a queer person.
My relationship with Nigerian-ness is complex and features prominently in my work. Exploring my relationship with Nigeria - its history, present and myths through visual culture is a practice of disrupting ancestral silencing.