Spotlight: Jamal Ademola’s Exploration of Self-Identity Through Mixed Media

Nigerian-American artist, Jamal Ademola uses a broad palette to tell stories about African identity. Working across media as varied as film, painting, drawing, photography, and performance, he deploys an arsenal of tools to depict the African experience, frequently in a surreal way. He creates conversations around such themes as black identities, the divine feminine, cultural consciousness and society. The dreamworlds he erects are indicative of an awareness of self and others that is otherworldly. His knack for storytelling and love for fine art permeate throughout his body of work. Part of the film “I DREAMED OF SEEING MYSELF” is about taking back our power to tell our own stories and define our realities. “I had no real qualms with the term Afrofuturism until I discovered that it was a white male writer that created it. Finding that out made me consider the importance of controlling our own images and narratives. We don’t even control our own descriptions of ourselves. It’s hard for me to embrace it wholeheartedly even though I know that its intentions are good.”

SOURCE: OKAYAFRICA