SAIKIRI ART GUIDE

What was your first experience of art?

My first of experience of art? Hmm don’t know if I have an answer to that question. I know that I’ve always enjoyed drawing. I can tell you about this one picture I drew. It was of a parrot from Aladdin. Jafar had a pet parrot and I drew a picture of it. I took such a long time to get all the colours right and it was really good. I was like 7 or 8 and it was a really good drawing. I was like ahh I like doing this. So since then I just kept drawing things, watching Art Attack and making paper mache models. That was sort of my first experience of making art and having enjoyment from making art as well.

​

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?

I never planned to be an artist; I studied art throughout primary, secondary and college. At university I studied Art Direction and that was more doing set designs for films and such. Creativity has always been present throughout my education. After that I went into styling and that was still working on photography sets and doing props so I was always making but in terms of being an artist that was something that just happened. Originally for a styling project, but I continued making this type of artwork in my spare time. I then did an exhibition because I had accumulated all this work and people were interested in buying it so I was like ohh...ok let’s see if I can make something work with this. From there I joined up with the Prince’s Trust – a charity that supports young people to start a business. I only really started calling myself an artist a couple of years ago. Now I’m comfortable telling people I’m an artist.

What did you do before becoming an artist?

Art Direction, Styling, designing sets, photography based work with textiles.

So you’re heritage is Nigerian, does that influence your work in any way and how?

Yes, of course. The most obvious being in the material that I use even though there is this fuss about wax print being African, the Dutch or Indonesian. But it’s the fabric I grew up around. It’s what my mother, sisters and aunties wear so it was kind of obvious that’s what I would start with. I look at culture and costume, which is my first influence.  If you look at a lot of my artwork you will see a direct connection in terms of the costumes that I create. I can also talk about the project that I did with Stella Jean (Stella Jean is a Haitian-Italian fashion designer). I created a visual for her new SS19 collection, which was inspired by Brazilian ‘Bahia’ women. These women have a strong connection to West Africa and this is reflected in their costume and style - culture and tradition feeds into my work, which is why she wanted me on board.

What is your creative process like? Do you work with music for instance or in silence?

Hahaha sometimes Terry (studio mate) and I have a dance! It depends what I’m doing. Usually when I’m creating I like to have music on.

Tell us a bit about your new body of work.

It’s based around the theme of circus so looking at different costumes and being influenced by Cirque du Soleil, cirque nouveau, everything theatrical and looking at performance. It’s influenced by the theme of circus because of the space it was showing in. The gallery space is owned by a PR company called Circus and that’s their ethos - using their space became a collaboration. It worked for me because as well as looking at culture I look at a lot of dance. You’ll notice the figures in my work are moving, it suggests life, they’re joyful and that’s not only through the textiles and colours, it’s also from the position of the figures so it all worked really well. I used the wax material again but these had similar shapes and patterns as circus costumes. I had also taken a trip to Ghana and other places so I had new material to be inspired by. The fact that they were so large made people experience the artwork in a different way compared to the smaller works I’ve made. The size meant I could do more embroidery and play more with collage, adding different shapes and colours together.

What are the biggest obstacles you face in getting your work “out there”?

I guess in terms of my current work, it would be space - getting a space to get your work seen. Online and social media I guess is the new way/direction things are going but you can’t take for guaranteed being in a space and seeing the work. It’s much more different to seeing it on your phone or computer. With that said I am trying to diversify the way my work is shown. I don’t necessarily always want to be in a gallery space and I think that’s why I was so conscious about working with other people and trying to use my work in different ways like I did with Stella Jean. Collaboration is definitely the way forward in terms of trying to get my work out there, seen by different audiences and in different ways as opposed to just being seen in a space.

Which artists (living or deceased) inspire you and would be invited to your dinner party?

Yinka Shonibare (British-Nigerian artist) and the other would be Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye (Nigerian batik and textile designer) because she’s such a happy lady, she has stories and she’s a textile artist as well and she always looks amazing. And I would like to see how they both get on because she has a big presence and Yinka Shonibare seems quite calm and reserved.

Where can people find your work?

www.onomeotite.com

Instagram @onomeotite

Studio visit @Cockpit Arts

Studio E2

Cockpit Yard

Northington Street

London WC1N 2NP

What’s your favourite Afrobeat song?

Anything by Wiz Kid or Davido!!!!