Yétundé Olagbaju
Only Sky Above, Water Below, 2020

diptych, large-format photography/ archival photo print
21”H x 18”W (each)

ARTwork statement:

The human obsession with the horizon line has been documented for centuries; showing up anywhere from Genesis to Yoruba creation stories. When we visit these places where the water meets the sky we experience both horror and the sublime. There is a hopeful sense of possibility in the endlessness, regardless of the destruction that may have occurred in the water’s wake. Can perceived endlessness only exist in a straight line or can it be round, skewed, even bulbous? Through analog distortion methods, this series of large format photographs will disrupt our longstanding perceptions of the eternal through destruction and reconstruction of scripture.

ARTIST BIO:

Yétundé Olagbaju is an artist and maker, currently residing in Oakland, California. They utilize video, sculpture, action, gesture, and performance as through-lines for inquiries regarding Black labor, legacy, and processes of healing. They are rooted in the need to understand history, the people that made it, the myths surrounding them, and how their own body is implicated in history’s timeline.