Itunuoluwa Ebijimi (BFA 2018) practices sculpture, performance, and photography confronting the oppressive nature of societal systems, objecting the over simplification of queer narrative. As a queer Black woman, Itunuoluwa is constantly navigating spaces dominated by systematic white supremacy, sexism, and hetero/cisnormativity, whether it be at school, in public spaces or her home. As a result, Ebijimi’s works exist in a state of hyper-awareness, conscious of the artists presence and dominant societal assumptions.
In Obscene Epicene recreates the Vibrant Underworld series of Ed Paschke’s drawings and paintings. In Paschke’s hyper surreal portraits of a seedy bright underworld, we see the terrifying vibrancy of Chicago’s queer nightlife. Through a re-staging of these portraits, the work seeks to confront Chicago’s past and present performance artists at a time when queer culture is increasingly empowered. The larger than life portraits stand in refusal to censorship of the queer, sensual, and non-normative nature of the ‘scene’. Ebijimi’s images interrupt the daily, normative ideas of the presentation of the ‘self’ by interjecting the emancipatory, queer, performed self into the institutional space.
On View : 1st fl, Neiman Center, 37 S Wabash Ave
Event : TBA
Obscene Epicene, 2016, Photographs and Embellishment on Vinyl, 3 ft x 8 ft.
