Diversity Modern Art

        Diversity
 
        Over the years, diversity is something that has gotten more accepted and praised, which I like, with more music, movies, and art being created to lift up different genders, race, and sexualities. Diversity is something great and a something we all can learn from as we can learn from each other with different cultures for instance. The works that I will be presenting down below are all showing the support and pride in how diversity can be expressed through art. Enjoy! 

Toyin Ojih Odutola
        
        
        Race has been something that has been a topic in our society for hundreds of years, for different reasons. It is something that brings a lot of emotions in me. In this portrait painting by Ojih Odutola we can see a man sitting on a bench, wearing nice clothes with a nice beard. For me, I think that there are more paintings within the diversity area that can bring more emotions to me. To connect this to diversity, I would just say that it is important to create art with all races, even if the painting does not express a certain scene that is breath-taking. Race-discrimination was a big problem many years ago but still is and art can be a good way to express that every race is worth the same. 


        The other painting by Ojih Odutola illustrates four people in front of a big window where we can see the beautiful, blue sky in the background. Both the first and this painting has the same type of styles and it is clear for me to see that these are from the same artist. The meaning for this painting does not tell me a lot either where we can see this four people looking in different directions, not doing anything specific that catches my attention. Ojih Odutola is using bright colors in both of these paintings and I would compare this to when I would edit a picture I took and I am increasing the brightness of the picture to the max. This is how I see it and it seems to me that even the brown and black, which are supposed to the darker colors, appears bright to me. For both of these paintings, I would not like to own any of them since I believe there are more paintings that can bring me emotion than this. But since it is good to have a lot of perspectives on things, I chose to pick paintings which I liked and did not because at the end of the day, there will probably be people who likes these two paintings. Preference is not right or wrong and that is something important to remember. 

Nelson Makamo


        Nelson Makamo is an artist that paints close-up portraits of black children in his home country of South Africa. Makamo has exhibited in many cities all over the world for his portraits and has collaborated with Giorgio Armani for instance. This specific portrait was made from charcoal on paper in 2017. This painting by Makamo brings me a lot of emotions. Everyone will "read" a painting differently and for me this illustrates a black kid looking chocked, surprised, and almost devastated for something he just witnessed. Makamo has done a great job showing emotion to the viewer in this painting, even though just using charcoal on paper. I get a lot of different scenarios in my head that the kid possibly could have seen but the main point is that it is all really brutal and devastating scenes for a kid in this age to see. Black children, especially in the past, but also now, in general have a tougher childhood getting raised in poor areas around the world. I am not saying that it is just black people that have gets to go through or that it is not any other people which also is important to mention. Diversity have been a hot topic the recent decade or so, which I believe is important for all people to understand that it is a good thing that we all can learn from. Therefore, art like this has huge importance and that is why I would prefer to own something like this over the first two paintings, but also since it gets me a bit emotional. 


        The second painting by Makamo is of a girl from his home country South Africa. This girl looks fearless in my eyes and wow, the posture, control, and authority that this girl express is something extraordinary and something I love about this painting. Makamo portrayed this girl perfectly in my opinion. Gender is also something that we have learned from our past is important to take with the highest seriousness and respect possible. Women and girls can be tough and have authority and there is nothing wrong with that at all. I would love to buy this painting and give it to a potential future daughter that I may have in the future. It expresses what is important for little girls to understand in a young age, that they need to be respected and be powerful in all aspects of life. That is something I would teach my daughter and by giving this art piece to her, she would learn from it and the painting would have a special and important meaning to her. 
Savana Ogburn



        Savana Ogburn is a photographer, artist, animator, and set designer based in Atlanta where humor, queerness, and pop culture are things that are explored in her many works. In our society today, sexual preference and gender is one of the biggest topics. LGBTQ+ and pride is something that has gotten a massive upswing the recent years and this can also be expressed in art, as Ogburn shows. Diversity is not just about race and those inequalities but also about people in the LGBTQ+ community has to suffer because of hate from certain people. That is why it is important to bring up this aspect too when speaking about diversity. In this painting, we can see, as explained by Ogburn herself, a recreation of Adam and Eve inspired by an all-trans reimagining. We can see the apple in the one of the persons in the picture. For me, it is harder to connect to a picture like this because I do not know a lot about the LGBTQ+ community to begin with and I believe other people would connect and enjoy this painting more than me. 


        In this painting, the first thing that I recognize and see is the colors of pride. Pride's symbol is usually the rainbow and this is something that Ogburn tried to get across to us viewers direct. Another thing that I saw was that this seems to be a biological man, because of the beard, wearing "women clothes" proving a point that clothes and things does not have to be gender specific. You can wear and like whatever you want, regardless of your gender or sexual orientation and that is what diversity is all about. Ogburn used colorful colors when painting this, mainly because of the reason that pride and LGBTQ+ are very colorful communities and that is the message she tried to get across. Personally, I did not like any of these two paintings but I can understand the importance and big message it has around diversity. I cannot simply connect with it enough for me to personally wanting to own one of these two pieces by Ogburn. 

Sources: 

“Toyin Ojih Odutola: To Wander Determined.” Toyin Ojih Odutola: To Wander Determined | Whitney Museum of American Art, https://whitney.org/exhibitions/toyin-ojih-odutola#exhibition-artworks.

“Nelson Makamo.” Nelson Makamo - 43 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, https://www.artsy.net/artist/nelson-makamo.

Savana Ogburn. “Behind the Scenes of Eve.” Savana Ogburn, Savana Ogburn, 4 May 2020, http://www.savanaogburn.com/blog/2018/7/21/behind-the-scenes-of-eve.

 

Comments

  1. GarrettNovember 22, 2021 at 11:06 PM

    Hi Filip,

    I found it very stimulating reading your blog this week as much of the news nowadays discusses diversity and different opinions. The piece which demonstrated a little boy which seems like he is choking is very powerful and can be taken many different ways. I also wonder what the boy witnessed to show such emotion which was captured by the artist. Art does a great job of telling stories and different time periods within life and having pieces such as the ones you showcased will tell stories to generations to come. Great post.

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  2. Iona S.November 23, 2021 at 9:33 PM

    Hello Filip, I absolutely adore the theme you chose for this presentation. I think the celebration of our differences is what brings us together. I love the last portrait that represents LGBTQ+ community; it argues that clothes, colors or hairstyles are not defined by gender and everyone is entitled to their own forms of expression. I also admire the work by Nelson Makamo. It reveals the true emotions that African-Americans experienced and the brutal conditions they face. Makamo was able to illustrate the intensity of the circumstances just by the look on the individual's face.

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