Self-portrait: Kosi   Photo copyright Black Ottawa Scene

Thursday 14 September

Tucked away in a leafy neighbourhood in the Glebe is Studio Sixty-Six, an oasis for upcoming artists to showcase their work.  Thursday evening saw a large number of fans and admirers of assembled at this venue to view the work of Ottawa-based Kosisochukwu (Kosi) Nnebe,  a Nigerian-Canadian visual artist. In describing her art, Kosi says her work aims to combine critical theory and visual arts practice, and explores the role of art as an interactive and disruptive force”

STATEMENT: SOMATIC SATIATION
“Somatic satiation” (somatic meaning ‘bodily’) mimics the phenomenon of semantic satiation whereby repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener. Here, the image of the black woman is repeated over and over again – at times overtly, other times hidden and abstracted, but always present. In the same way repeated words will temporarily lose their meaning over time, this exhibition aims to overwhelm the viewer with representations and depictions of black womanhood until they begin to question their understanding of it, and the biases their minds conjure up at the sight of a black woman. This moment of questioning creates an interval- an interruption, or rather an opening – that allows for a new understanding of black womanhood; one that is intimate and expansive; intrinsic and radical.

Photo copyright Black Ottawa Scene