In conversation with (lip) service | DJ AYA, Gabriella & Madeleine
- Interview
- Talk Show
What role do gender and sexuality play in the lives of people who experience intersectional entanglements? How do gender and sexuality relate to migration, racism, classism, and sexism? In the days we live in, what is Black love and what does VerTrauen vs REVOLution mean? Are gender and sexuality a part of our identities or rather an institutionalised system? Would a queer feminist perspective help? Asmaa Sbou is going to have different people coming in, talking, discussing, and dreaming together of a way to love in our community.
Her guest today is Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin.
First things first, Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin na the pikin of Victoria Elomese Omonhinmin and Cosmos Ijogbe Omonhinmin, E family big well well and e believe say all these things na very important reason wey make am the person wey e be today, because of the type of pikin wey e be to e mama and papa, the type of brother wey e be to e siblings and the nephew, cousin and uncle wey e be to e extender family and the different communities wey e don stay, all join to make am the very person wey dey do the type of work wey e dey do and difference nor dey between e work and daily life, all of dem joining together as storyteller and spacemaker.
Na for Benin City, for Nigeria 1985 naim dem born Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin. Omonblanks na interdisciplinary creative producer or “ambassador of entanglement” wey dey use everything e fit use take make things happen, like form or position wey e need take do e project. Na so e done take do everything like festival curating & producing, creative direction, film, music, art practice, sharing food, conversations and more. With critical discourse E dey rearrange intersections with all d plenty conceptual tools like research-based methods inside oral-storytelling, biographical conversation documentation, archiving, design and collaboration.
As a storyteller, spacemaker, he feel say practitioners, especially the ones with Black and African heritage, deserve the chance to do anything them want just like their academic colleagues and get the same respect and regard, because na ontop the work wey practitioners dey do, naim we take dey test theories. He start ‘The Art Concept’, a documentation and archive-focused platform with eye for African and Black societies from individual, community, city, country and continent perspectives, as way to take back power to determine our center and talk our narratives.
As E life-Practice sitdon ontop participatory and social-practice, E believe say our body na memory collectorand everything we do takes on a life of its own, so through the relationship wey e get with people, stories, space, spices, cooking, sharing collected memories and food all na major part of e handwork/practice. Omonblanks’s past and present works na projects wey dey always touch social engagement. Omonblanks na d architect of The Art Concept Project, wey dey forge new ground in the documentation and archiving of narratives of people of Black and African heritage and those within the many intersections. E be fellow and lecturer for University of Art, Berlin (Oct. 2021-23)
Any questions, comments write them via (info@sboutiful.com)
Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR.