Ekene Emeka-Maduka

Oil portraits by Ekene Maduka narrate stories of heritage, femininity and Blackness. Dedicated to what she calls “the study of the self,” Maduka’s compositions present repeated versions of her own image, as well as friends and family in domestic settings. Thus the works emphasise the performativity of identity and also how selfhood is intrinsically tied to those around us. Home, memory and displacement are all key themes throughout. Predominantly painting onto stretched canvas and wooden panels, the artist incorporates bright fabrics into the compositions and lifts styles like the ‘gele’ from her Nigerian heritage. By entwining elements of her cultural identity with references to artists like Frida Kahlo, Cindy Sherman and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, —Maduka elaborates on legacies of portraiture through the prism of her own experiences.

Throughout her practice, Maduka toys with classical tropes of the female nude. Look it’s Just Blood (2018) is a self-portrait of the artist dressed in blood-stained underwear, bent over a pile of clothes next to the washing machine — a familiar scene to most people who menstruate. Although her back is turned, Maduka’s head is angled definitely towards the audience, subverting the submissive portrayal of the 19th Century Odalisque femme. Additionally, in a satirical response to the commodification of feminism and the feminine body, she holds a Dior t-shirt emblazoned “We should all be feminists.” Constantly reconfiguring power and its relationship to the painted figure, Maduka celebrates identity as abundant and manifold.