Original artwork description:

Although Born in Southeast London, my Sierra Leonean and Lebanese heritage usually feeds directly into my practice. I look to convey a sense of empowerment to often marginalised ethnic groups in the western world, through the exploration of ethnic identity.

Using antique texts and maps as the canvases for my works has been a constant within my practice. This process of bringing new value to often disregarded items creates a cohesion between the concepts behind the work and the aesthetic output. As I empower various figures; I simultaneously do so with the ground used as I place them within new contexts.

Regularly drawing with pen enables me to call upon traditional draughtsmanship techniques, influenced by sketches from the high renaissance. Through an almost contradictory process of using this relatively modern art medium with a classical approach to mark making: I look to celebrate authentic drawing within the digital age.

Outdated stereotypical gender roles are often adhered to in Islamic West African cultures. This work creates a new found matriarchal paradigm with this re-presentation of power.

Materials used:

biro pen/ballpoint pen and pages from authentic Sierra Leone textbook.

Tags:

#portrait #drawing #collage #photorealism #portraiture #africa #black art #african art #photorealistic portrait #african artist #pen drawing #black power #biro art #biro pen