Toyin Ojih Odutola

Toyin Ojih Odutola transforms Hamburger Bahnhof’s east cabinet into “Adijatu Straße,” a station on the fictional U22 underground line, in order to thematise the interplay of movement and history. Her narrative portraits trace the lives of various characters and incorporate every day or monumental settings, often interwoven with architectural details. Shaped by the artist’s upbringing as a West African woman in the Southern United States, Ojih Odutola’s work examines social and political dynamics through the vehicle of skin, the fluidity of expression, and the meaning of darkness and light. The artist’s first solo exhibition in Germany shows 25 works drawn on paper, board and linen. This is the 12th in a series of publications accompanying solo exhibitions of contemporary artists at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. In addition to exhibition views and images of artworks, it comprises a curato­rial introduction by Emily Finkelstein, an extensive interview by Sam Bardaouil with Toyin Ojih Odutola as well as an essay by Leigh Raiford. Text in English and German.

Toyin Ojih Odutola transforms Hamburger Bahnhof’s east cabinet into “Adijatu Straße,” a station on the fictional U22 underground line, in order to thematise the interplay of movement and history. Her narrative portraits trace the lives of various characters and incorporate every day or monumental settings, often interwoven with architectural details. Shaped by the artist’s upbringing as a West African woman in the Southern United States, Ojih Odutola’s work examines social and political dynamics through the vehicle of skin, the fluidity of expression, and the meaning of darkness and light. The artist’s first solo exhibition in Germany shows 25 works drawn on paper, board and linen. This is the 12th in a series of publications accompanying solo exhibitions of contemporary artists at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. In addition to exhibition views and images of artworks, it comprises a curato­rial introduction by Emily Finkelstein, an extensive interview by Sam Bardaouil with Toyin Ojih Odutola as well as an essay by Leigh Raiford. Text in English and German.

A seminal work by one of today’s most vital figurative artists explores the complexity of race, wealth, and class through storytelling and multimedia drawings. This extraordinary illustrated story—Toyin Ojih Odutola’s best-known body of work—chronicles the private lives of two fictional aristocratic Nigerian families, the UmuEze Amara Clan and the House of Obafemi, if colonialist and slave-trade interventions had never disrupted the country. Rendered life-size in charcoal, pastel, and pencil, Ojih Odutola’s figures appear enigmatic and mysterious, set against the artist’s larger conceived narrative, highlighting the malleability of identity and assumptions about race, wealth, and class.The UmuEze Amara Clan and the House of Obafemipresents the story of these families in four chapters illustrated and authored by Ojih Odutola, accompanied by the artist’s sketches and notes. Also included are several insightful essays on the artist herself by noted writers and critics Zadie Smith, Leigh Raiford, and others. An introduction to the artist’s vivid fictionalized world, as well as a reflection on the role of this body of work within her broader practice, this remarkable volume serves as the essential guide to Ojih Odutola’s unique form of storytelling.

A seminal work by one of today’s most vital figurative artists explores the complexity of race, wealth, and class through storytelling and multimedia drawings. This extraordinary illustrated story—Toyin Ojih Odutola’s best-known body of work—chronicles the private lives of two fictional aristocratic Nigerian families, the UmuEze Amara Clan and the House of Obafemi, if colonialist and slave-trade interventions had never disrupted the country. Rendered life-size in charcoal, pastel, and pencil, Ojih Odutola’s figures appear enigmatic and mysterious, set against the artist’s larger conceived narrative, highlighting the malleability of identity and assumptions about race, wealth, and class. The UmuEze Amara Clan and the House of Obafemi presents the story of these families in four chapters illustrated and authored by Ojih Odutola, accompanied by the artist’s sketches and notes. Also included are several insightful essays on the artist herself by noted writers and critics Zadie Smith, Leigh Raiford, and others. An introduction to the artist’s vivid fictionalized world, as well as a reflection on the role of this body of work within her broader practice, this remarkable volume serves as the essential guide to Ojih Odutola’s unique form of storytelling.