Oluwatobi Adewumi

Lives and works in McNeil, AR, USA

Artist statement

My practice interrogates what it means to inhabit the world as a Black African immigrant and to construct a life between geographies. Through drawing and installation, I explore how memory, history, and bureaucracy shape experiences of belonging and displacement. Working primarily with charcoal and acrylic, I create layered portraits that merge realism with abstraction, embedding collaged elements such as newspapers, letters, passports, textiles, and luggage tags. These fragments intimate and archival function as both evidence and metaphor, situating the figure within a web of cultural memory and contested narratives. As an immigrant, I grapple with how identity is reshaped in transit: what is carried, what is left behind, and what is forced to be redefined. My work reflects this process of negotiation, challenging stereotypes while foregrounding dignity, resilience, and complexity. By reconfiguring socially and historically significant images of Black people, I aim to uncover overlooked stories and spark dialogue about race, migration, and belonging. Recent projects extend these inquiries through immersive installations such as a large-scale work constructed from suitcases that transform personal artifacts into collective monuments. These works invite viewers to step into the liminal space between departure and arrival, past and present, familiarity and estrangement. I see my role as both storyteller and witness, creating images that honor lived experiences while...

Artwork