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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBlack Bodies Painted and Photographed Like the Cosmos by Mikael Owunna
Mikael Chukwuma Owunna, a queer Nigerian-Swedish artist raised in Pittsburgh, has spent the past two and a half years photographing Black men and women for a series titled Infinite Essence. Hand-painted using fluorescent paints and photographed in complete darkness, Owunnas subjects are illuminated by a flash outfitted with a UV filter, which turns their nude bodies into glowing celestial figures.
Owunna tells Colossal that the series was his response to the frequent images and videos of Black people being killed by those sworn to protect them: the police. The photographers friends, family members, dancers, and one person he connected with on Instagram serve as models for the project, which is named after an idea from his Igbo heritage. All of our individual spirits are just one ray of the infinite essence of the sun, Owunna explains. By transcending the visible spectrum, I work to illuminate a world beyond our visible structures of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia where the black body is free.
Having struggled with his own body image (and with his identity as a gay African man, which has inspired his previous work), Owunna says that the response to the project has been powerful, both from the public and from the models. One of the models, Emem, broke down in tears looking at their pictures saying that they had always dreamed of seeing their body adorned with stars and that these images were beyond their wildest imagination, he said. They then told me every black person deserves to see themselves in this way and how the experience was life-altering for them.
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/04/black-bodies-photographed-like-the-cosmos-by-mikael-owunna/
Owunna tells Colossal that the series was his response to the frequent images and videos of Black people being killed by those sworn to protect them: the police. The photographers friends, family members, dancers, and one person he connected with on Instagram serve as models for the project, which is named after an idea from his Igbo heritage. All of our individual spirits are just one ray of the infinite essence of the sun, Owunna explains. By transcending the visible spectrum, I work to illuminate a world beyond our visible structures of racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia where the black body is free.
Having struggled with his own body image (and with his identity as a gay African man, which has inspired his previous work), Owunna says that the response to the project has been powerful, both from the public and from the models. One of the models, Emem, broke down in tears looking at their pictures saying that they had always dreamed of seeing their body adorned with stars and that these images were beyond their wildest imagination, he said. They then told me every black person deserves to see themselves in this way and how the experience was life-altering for them.
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/04/black-bodies-photographed-like-the-cosmos-by-mikael-owunna/
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Black Bodies Painted and Photographed Like the Cosmos by Mikael Owunna (Original Post)
demmiblue
Apr 2019
OP
Ferrets are Cool
(21,107 posts)1. While this is nice
I could do the same thing in photoshop in about 2 mins. I applaud art with the best of them, but this seems very singular in interpretation. YMMV
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)3. "seems very singular in interpretation." how so ... explain, if you don't mind.
hlthe2b
(102,298 posts)2. Beautiful!
nocoincidences
(2,221 posts)4. The execution and result are not the unique part,
it is the idea that occurred to the artist to do this.
That is what being an artist means...the idea that does not occur to most people, even though they could make it happen.