History and Iteration in Somi Nwandu’s work
I am interested in artists who explore history and iteration.
Iteration: the repetition of a process or utterance.
Is history an iteration of itself? Much of art certainly seems to be iteration. The way an artist can work the same patterns, the same faces, the same images over and over in repetition, seeking some understanding.
Speaking to themes that band across time and space, I am interested in the way Somi Nwandu plays with iteration. Her work has traces of process within it. I do not mean it is unfinished, still in process. Rather, I feel I can visually see her thought process, her movement through the work, her call and response with the mediums.
Nwandu is a multi-media artist whose style is variable. Yet the quality of her explorations is apparent. Quality here meaning the depth of her inquiry.
Her work somehow carries a history in it. Not in a conventional historical way, but rather a history of expressions.
She has iterations of her own self in many different contexts. The background, the texture, the pattern becoming the context, as the composure and articulation of herself as subject remains largely the same.
I think about textiles, and patterns, and the stories told in there. The way patterns can help us identify where we come from. What is familiar? What speaks to you of home? Which patterns can become maps?
It seems to me her digital art too is an exploration of textiles, as each line appears a vibrant thread. I think to Victoria Villasana’s work.
In the HER SPACE series, Nwandu explores
I love this play with digital/textile. I like the way it seems to be having a conversationa cross history of different art forms.
https://thesomieffect.com/herspace [specifically “ULTRAVIOLET HARMONICS: SHE/HER IN EQUIPOISE”]
https://thesomieffect.com/nwanyi-oma-collection [specifically “Self Unseen”]
“What we say and what we do ultimately comes back to us so let us own our responsibility, place it in our hands, and carry it with dignity and strength.”
Thanks for exploring art with me. I urge you to write on the pieces in your own collection. Learn their histories by studying them closely and allowing yourself to have reactions and intuitions.
—Delia