Art
Moyo Wangu
Letters to Himself, Nyika Kwatiri: Obi Agwam's Animated Surrealism
mazwi naTeneshia Carr
On the afternoon we speak, Obi Agwam achangobva paTube uye achipinda muLondon studio yake. He's a little dazed, kugara uchikaruka, under-caffeinated, uye, as it turns out, quietly celebrating his 26th birthday. "I just arrived in my studio space not even two minutes ago," he laughs. "I'm here for about a year." The move from Queens to the Royal Academy's prestigious fellowship program is a wild acceleration by any measure. But for Agwam, the speed of it all is less about luck and more about clarity.
Born in Lagos and raised in Southside Jamaica, Queens, Agwam grew up in a world that was both hyper-vivid and heavily policed. His parents kept him inside for safety, but the city taught him independence early. "I was on the train as early as like 10, 11 zera," anodaro. "You have to get those skills real early—being responsible, commuting, being safe and aware." Mukati mefurati, nzira yekutiza nayo yainge yosvika. Nekusvika kudiki kune kunze kwenyika, akadanana nemakatuni nemaanimation. Alternate universes ainzwa kupenya kupfuura iyo kunze kwehwindo rake.
"Ndakatanga kukweva kunze kwekubhowekana," anorangarira. "Mamiriro angu ezvinhu akanga asinganyanyi kunakidza, asi makatuni aipa mwero wemufaro wandaisazongowana. Saka ini ndakabva ndangoshandisa senzira yekugadzirisa." Izvozvo "coping mechanism" akavaka nheyo chinyararire: mwana aigona kudhirowa mukirasi, pwere inodhirowa mumanotibhuku, muimbi wechidiki anga asati aona hunyanzvi senzira yehupenyu inoshanda.
Kuchinja uku hakuna kuuya kusvika community college, mushure mekunge maUniversity aaida pakutanga akati kwete. "Vakandimanikidza kutenga pendi dzangu dzekutanga," anodaro nezvekosi yekudhirowa. "Pamberi pazvo, I had always just been drawing… It was just something to pass the time. In that class, they forced me to create artwork in a physical, ,tangible way, on canvas. And ever since that year, I just started making stuff."
2019 was the beginning. 2020 was the pandemic—24-hour access to his own imagination. "We're locked inside. I don't got nothing else to do," he shrugs. "So we're gonna paint." He began posting the work online without a plan, just consistency. Within a year, he had an audience; by 2021, he was showing in galleries in New York, Los Angeles, uye London. Mukati 2024, he mounted his first solo show at Harkawik in Manhattan. Ikozvino, the Royal Academy.
If the timeline sounds improbable, Agwam is the first to resist the myth of sudden discovery. "I do believe in destiny," anodaro, "but I also believe that people have their say on what's meant for them. People always say, 'If it's meant to be, it's meant to be,' but I think we have our own agency. I think with the right mindset, I could be an artist today, doctor tomorrow, astronaut the next day. With enough clarity and focus and intention, I think anything is possible."
That belief in agency shows up in the work itself—paintings populated by elastic, animated figures that seem to hover somewhere between cartoon, spirit, and memory. His imagery feels like a fever dream of Blackness: stretched limbs, rubbery expressions, worlds that vibrate with color and coded histories. "I lean into fantasy and surrealism and imagination," anotsanangura. "Imagination serves a lot of different purposes. It serves a purpose in the act of resistance. It serves a purpose in self-soothing and just feeling better. Kana nyika iri kupenga uye nyika yako yenyama iri kuputsika kana kwete zvaunoda, chinhu chinotevera chakanakisa ndechekufungidzira nyika kunze kwayo."
Zvangu, iyo inofungidzirwa nyika yakanyatsosungirirwa kuMutema wemufananidzo uye mutsara wakaoma wekuona unotakura. Anonyura mune yekutanga yezana ramakore remakumi maviri eAmerican animation, Jim Crow-era caricatures, rusaruraganda uye runotyisa, uye anozvirovera nemakatuni emazuva ano uye akapfava, vatorwa mafomu. "Mumakore ekuma1920, 30S, uye 40s zvichienda mberi, Vanhu vatema vaifananidzirwa neimwe nzira, kunyanya kutamba pane stereotypes," anodaro. "Saka ndaizotora zvimwe zvezvinhu zvinoonekwa kubva ipapo, uye zvakare uzvisanganise nezvinhu zvinoonekwa kubva kumakatuni emazuva ano uye zvisinganyanyi kutsamwisa zvidhori zvevatema. ndiri zvikuru, zvikuru, ane hanya zvikuru nekuvhara mukaha uripo pakati pechimwe chinhu chine mufananidzo uye chakapusa uye chinonakidza, uye chimwe chinhu chakakomba, high art."
Nhamba dzake hadzina chinangwa chechokwadi. Vanovavarira kunzwa. "Hazvifanirwe kunge zviri hyper-realistic. Hazvifanirwe kugara zvichitariswa," anosimbirira. "Ndaigara ndichinzwa sendiri kupenda manzwiro andinoita hupenyu hweBlack, pane kuti hupenyu hwevaMutema hunoratidzika sei."
Musiyano iwoyo unokosha. Munyika yeAgwam, iyo Black figure inobvumirwa kuva elastic, weird, ecstatic, melancholy, uye kusunungurwa kubva pamutoro wekutendeseka. Iyo pendi inoshanda kwete semifananidzo chete asi semavara. Anonyora, inofungisisa nezvendangariro chaidzo, uye inoshandisa zvinyorwa izvozvo sekurudziro kuchidimbu chimwe nechimwe. Zvichiwedzera, mashoko acho anoona pamusoro: mahamvuropu akadhindwa, mitsara yakanyorwa nemaoko, zvidimbu zvetsamba. "Mifananidzo iyi yakaita setsamba kwandiri uyezve tsamba kune chero ari kuverenga," anodaro. "Zvakafanana nendangariro, animation, fungidziro ichipinda muhari huru inonyungudika."
Pane zvakare kunyarara kushinga mukufamba kwaanoita njodzi. Agwam inonyatsoziva mutsara wakanaka pakati pekutorazve caricature uye kubereka kukuvadza. "Mutsetse mutete pakati pemifananidzo inogumbura uye isiri inogumbura," anobvuma. "Ndinofunga iwe unowana mwero kuburikidza nekuedza uye nekukundikana. Handisi kufara zvakanyanya neakawanda emifananidzo yandinogadzira, asi ndichiri kuburitsa zvakadaro. Nekuti dzimwe nguva manzwiro andinoita haana basa nekuti vamwe vanhu vachanzwa sei nezvazvo."
Verenga zvakawanda mu Nyaya 33