April 26 | Eseosa Edebiri

Chicago

Eseosa Edebiri was born and raised in Northern California. She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and now resides in Chicago. Through a combination of digital and handmade processes, she intends to tell her story and simultaneously create space for those around her whose identities are often compromised. Her work addresses a serious need for the representation of black and brown bodies translated into text and imagery and then used within textile-based work, such as weavings, latch hook, prints, and tufted pieces. The text utilized within her work is taken from conversations between friends and in passing. These serve to represent the community in life and happiness, as these communities are often showcased only in death, evoking compassion and empathy, rather than just sympathy. There is a soft, tactile side to her work as well. She aims to create work and build spaces that play off of one's desires to touch and whether or not she allows that touch. 

As for my week, I kept it busy. I've been dealing with a lot of Covid19 related anxiety. I channel it into relief work through The Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Artist Resource Mobilization (ARM) making masks, headbands for nurses, and whatever the need may be that week. Thinking about the prompt I was given and deciding what direction to take it in was a nice break from that anxiety. The first month of quarantine I found it easier to make work, but as I'm completing the second month now I'm hitting a wall of that anxiety I mentioned. This prompt allowed me to play around in an app (TikTok) I hadn't posted in yet and utilize one of the masks I had made for fun to create a sense of movement in time with some of the music. 

http://eseosaedebiri.com/

http://instagram.com/eseosaedebiri