this my whole hole whole hole this still little me me me
Funto Omojola
GALLERY II
Funto Omojola, body no be firewood, 2024, Archival inkjet print, 24 x 20 inches.
May 25 – June 23, 2024
Opening reception: Saturday, May 25, from 6–8pm
A.I.R Gallery is pleased to announce this my whole hole whole hole this still little me me me, a multimedia exhibition by 2023–2024 Fellow Funto Omojola. In the exhibition, photographic portraits are collected alongside bodily artifacts, like the artist’s hair, to create a reliquary for a pillaged body. Black-and-white self-portraits, in which the artist often appears blurred and distorted, are shown alongside photo album-sized images of the artist’s family in their home space. Informed both by Yoruba understandings of illness as well as violent, colonial medical understandings of disease, Omojola considers what is left after a marked body has been despoiled or wounded, as well as what emerges when their family’s histories of ailment and indisposition are processed through Western belief systems, and arrive at Western institutions as artifacts framed for intimate review and revisit.
Body no be firewood:oh lovely beautiful body, You!A vessel, my soul, spirit, torture belonging Tender but ruggedly commendingOh lovely beautiful body, you!Cherished, nourished, fighting, commotionEvery part of you spoke without confusion Now, we all know the victory you emitted to conquer.Discombobulated but not destroyed.Tiny little stitches woven together like ‘‘aso oke’’to put you together again lovely body, You!Painful memories,Yet scares are remindersNow is the time to unwind beautiful body you!all bodies deserve to maintain a meaningful purpose of life.Thanks, to the creator of my beautiful body you!
— Abimbola Omojola, the artist’s motherBody no be woodAra n fé̩̩simiThe slogan of the bodyAra líle ni ìpìnlè̩ o̩rò̩The mandate of its goodnessKátàkárà, káràkátàKára kó lekokoThe ups and downsThe downs and upsHealthy it must be.Ani, oun ni ìpìnlè̩ o̩rò̩Health, they say is wealthE̩ni ba kan lo moWait not until it weakensWait not until it weakensThe ups and downsThe downs and upsÀláfíà araThe body as the harbinger of wealthÒun ni ìpìnlè̩ o̩rò̩Ká sin gbé̩̩ré̩̩, abé̩̩ré̩̩ ilu òkèèrèThe doctor’s tool, or the Babalawo’s needleIrin is̩é̩̩ Òyìnbó,Irin is̩é̩̩ ilè̩ ÒòduàDeutsche chirurgische instrumente,Or the Odùduwà libationKátàkárà, káràkátàKára kó le kokoThe ups and downsThe downs and upsAisan mabara jeDisease, not my portionAra n fesimiThe slogan of the bodyAra lile ni igbile oroThe mandate of its goodnessKátàkárà, káràkátàKára kó lekoko — Olabode Omojola, the artist’s fatherFunto Omojola (b. 1996 Ilorin, Nigeria) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Omojola has done projects with Dia Chelsea, New York; Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh; and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, among others. Their work has been supported by MacDowell, Peterborough; Cave Canem Foundation, Brooklyn; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams; Millay Arts, Austerlitz; and the Poetry Project, New York.
View the Press Release here.
View Funto Omojola’s page here.