#mikaelowunna

[trascapades]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tracy (@trascapades)

✊🏾📷🌌#ArtIsAWeapon #Photographer @MikaelOwunna makes celestial images of black bodies in response to the rampant death and violence in the media. 📹Reposted from @ajplus #MikaelOwunna #BlackCreatives #ajplus #ajplusvideo #blacklivesmatter #art #photography #endpolicebrutality #representationmatters #WeAreMagic #CelestialBlackness

[bellus-spiritus]

Prepare to visit worlds ahead of our time: #UtopianImagination! The third show in @fordfoundationgallery’s inaugural year, curated by @jaishri.abichandani, features 14 diverse artists whose futuristic narratives inspire wonder, joy & hope for our existence on an increasingly imperiled planet. With the understanding that (radical) #love is the answer to the violence presented in #PerilousBodies, this exhibition recognizes the difficulties of the task ahead. Utopias are increasingly hard to imagine in a world torn asunder by conflict. Using #sciencefiction to frame this interrogation, this exhibition presents objects, bodies, vessels, fragments created by artists over time that when pieced together, offer a vision of a future that includes all of us. Images: 1. #YinkaShinibare @shonibarestudio “Cloud 9” one of Shonibare’s earliest black astronaut sculptures-part of a two-decade exploration that imagines the survival of #BlackPeople as pioneers in space. The work explores themes of colonialism, post-colonialism and black aspiration. 2. #ZakOve @zakove “Sky Lark” And #LolaFlash @flash9 “Syzygy” (self portrait) an embodiment of her ancestors’ dreams of liberation. 4. #SaksAfridi @saks__ ‘The Prayer Catcher’. “If all your prayers were answered, would it change the world, or just yours?” ~ unknown #SpaceMosque The narrative explores greed & morality at war when prayer becomes the de facto global currency. The work asks us to reflect on what it is we pray for and to what end. 5. & 6. Zak Ove “Nubian Return” 7. #JulianaHuxtable @julianahuxtable “Lil’ Marvel” (self portrait) as a #transgender #BlackWoman provoking discourse on the power of her own image & heteronormative tropes of anatomy & the politics of the human body. 8. #MikaelOwunna @mikaelowunna “Infinite Essence”. Otherworldly images, black models transformed into #cosmic #ethereal beings. 9. #FarxiyoJaamac @hausofriya “Black Girls Live in Outer Space Too” series 10. #MarikoMori @marikomori #afrofuturistic #afrofuturism #futurism #blackness #blkcreatives #blackexcellence #artlover #artcollector #artcurator #artadvisory #destineeross @desti.knee & #joakimvonditmar (at Ford Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2kE8uBlsHi/?igshid=1r5b5bf9m8jva

[fancyfairywings]

It took me a while to collect all the account names for Black artists and creators you've asked for that have a at least one foot in fairy land 🌟 I will later make a Story series of them and also a Highlight. This gorgeous painting by @hillarydwilsonart is called "Slumber". Others you may want to follow: @moonfacearts @rs.arts @gdbee @sheeba_maya @violetlollii @fabiolajeanlouis @artofmachira @pixelghosts @theresafractale @strashme @flawless_by_tenisha @nyane @inez.iv @modelsensi @mikaelowunna @ashantidoll @tinotendamushore @laetitiaky @theyasminbenoit @b_dockk @rosierambles @bcmorrow @sanet.cosplay @notgrima @princessindigospalace @bambiix2 @rooneymiranda Also, @brownsugarfairies Is a great resource too! As for educators, I had been sharing posts from them in my main feed and Stories and will probably add those to the BLM Highlight. https://www.instagram.com/p/CBZ-GZWlhi0/?igshid=iaoq3204ojge

[apif]

I love these pics ❄️👸🏾❄️👸🏾 Via #limitlessAfricans @mikaelowunna . . #photography #winterwonderland #melanin #letitsnow #naturalista #naturalhair #fashion #style #limitlessafricans #apif #apifrocks

[africanmuslimunicorn]

Limit(less) - Capturing LGBTQ+ Africans in the diaspora, a wonderful photography project by @mikaelowunna (IG)☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

[david-dasharath-kalal]

Doubt thou the stars are fire ... @mikaelowunna “Emem” #utopianimagination #jaishriabichandani (at Ford Foundation) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2mp2aMA-Dx/?igshid=upqqhantu7hz

[voncrobead]

#Repost from @mikaelowunna with @regram.app ... Black artists descend from a long lineage of both creative power and exploitation. A conversation concerning artistic influence and lack of attribution is just that - a conversation. To see fellow photographer, @zoeygrossman block me and every single person who engages in discussion about her shoot with @xtina is very telling. To see some commentators reduce my work to “glitter”, shows just how dismissive they are of the art and technicality that goes into my work, reflective of my degree in Biomedical Engineering. There is a reason media like @npr wrote about my work as recently as March 2019, in an article widely shared within and beyond the photography community. The technicality, posing and framing, and the conceptual space #InfiniteEssence occupies reclaims the black body in ways deeper than the aesthetic. As a photographer, I understand how artistic influences are complicated and boundary-less, leaping across time and culture, and that is why I asked for a conversation about the attribution and influences behind the shoot from @zoeygrossman. I am not the first black artist who has been denied public attribution for their artwork. I will not be the last.  People are “influenced” by the work of black people all of the time and never mention the black artist. Is that really a legacy people want to perpetuate? Yes, this is @zoeygrossman's choice--but is it a good one? Lastly, I must add: seeing a concept intended for the reclamation and celebration of the BLACK body, so casually used on @xtina, hurts. A 60 year old black woman emailed me this year saying that every single day of her life she hated her body until she saw one of my images. THAT is the impact of work when it is created within and for the context of a community. And messages like these are what gets me up every morning to keep producing this art. I am so grateful for the wave of support I have received over the last 24 hours from everyone who has commented, shared, helped and supported me in ways big and small. Thank you for all of your support. I send everyone love! ❤️ Mikael #appropriation #xtina #zoeygrossman #xtinaaguilera #blackartists https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxw_UZ-JWMJ/?igshid=1k1ic6sdno8x5

[terpsichoremovementasmuse]

Read this: Repost @mikaelowunna ・・・ Big news! #InfiniteEssence is in @npr today! Check out the article - link in my bio! :D "'Every black person deserves to see themselves this way.'" - @cxntymeme

[colorwheelmedia]

Is being LGBTQ “un-African?”  Mikael Owunna of Limit(less) Africans posed this question, and it crossed my Twitter feed, so I had to reach out about his project. Read my @i_D interview w Owunna debunking this myth bit.ly/2hNE2h6 #art

[queermtl]

Mikael Owunna's photos are everything. @mikaelowunna @neverapartmtl @massimadi #mtlmoments (at Never Apart)

[dusudaunord]

Montréal celebrates Black History Month 2017

February 2017 marks the 26th anniversary of Black History Month in Montréal, and this year’s edition features a full slate of film screenings, art exhibitions, concerts and other special events. This year’s theme is “Here we stay, here we stand!”

Here are some highlights during BHM 2017:

Montréal’s famed Festival Nuits d’Afrique presents the Afrique en Cirque with Kalabanté, a multi-media spectacle combining dance, acrobatics and digital projections to the rhythmic sounds of percussion, at the Olympia Theatre on February 17.

The oldest professional Black theatre company in Canada, Montréal’s Black Theatre Workshop is performing the English-language play Bluenose in schools from February 6 to March 3. There are also two public matinees on February 18 at 1 pm and 3 pm. Bluenose is a musical aimed at a young audience. Through a group of pirates – including one called Bluenose – it explores themes of difference and acceptance.

The ninth annual Massimadi Afro-Caribbean LGBTQ film and arts festival runs February 21 to March 4 at various venues. “Massimadi” comes from the con­traction of two pejorative Haitian Creole words: masisi, for gay, and madivinez, for lesbian. Organizers combined them in a bid to reclaim both words when they founded Canada’s first (and only) black LGBT film festival back in 2009. This year’s program includes the films KIKI and Strike a Pose, the acclaimed documentary about the male dancers on Madonna’s 19930 Truth or Dare Tour.

One of Montreal’s most beloved soul divas, Sylvie Desgroseilliers, stars in the Women of Soul tribute at Le Balcon Cabaret Music Hall downtown on February 4. Desgroseilliers is such a good singer, when she shared the stage with Patti LaBelle at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, LaBelle went up to Desgroseilliers – onstage – and told her, “Never stop singing!” Throughout Black History Month, the music of Black culture (soul, gospel, funk, Motown, jazz, disco, R&B) will be celebrated at Le Balcon with Slim Williams (Feb. 14), Kim Richardson (Feb. 18), the Imani Gospel Singers choir (Feb. 21), Dawn Tyler Watson (Feb. 25) and many others.

Ivorian roots-reggae sensation Sekouba Bolomba headlines the Groove Nation nightclub on February 10.

The Montréal en Lumiere Festival presents legendary soulman Lee Fields & The Expressions at L’Astral nightclub on February 24.

The Coloured Women’s Club of Montreal, the oldest Black women’s organization in Canada, founded in 1902 by a group of American women whose husbands worked for the railroad as porters, presents its Black History Month Soirée with award-winning American performer Melissa Waddy-Thibodeaux whose one-woman show re-enacts such historical figures as Harriet Tubman, Lavinia Bell (who fled to Montreal) and Cathay Williams (Buffalo Soldier), Feb 25 at the Centre communautaire de Côte-des-Neiges.

Join us at @NeverApartMTL on Thu, Jan 26th for the Winter Exhibitions Vernissage (event link in bio 1/25/17) and see exhibitions by African LGBTQ festival Massimadi, including Limit(less) by Mikael Owunna @mikaelowunna. . Limit(less) explores how LGBTQ African immigrants navigate their identities and find ways to overcome the supposed “tension” between their LGBTQ and African identities through their visual aesthetics and expression. The project seeks to visually deconstruct the colonial binary that has been set up between LGBTQ and African identities. . Mikael is a Nigerian-Swedish American photographer and writer based in Washington D.C. . Mikael’s photography specializes in documentary and portrait work. His mission with his photography is to elevate marginalized community voices. . In this exhibition titled Limit(less), Mikael is exploring the fashion and style of LGBTQ African immigrants and working to debunk the myth that being LGBTQ is “un-African”. . #massimadi #africanlgbtq #art #artist #performance #painting #music #video #fashion #film #culture #unity #montreal #mileex #mileend #neverapart #entrepreneur #creative #creativity #startup #nonprofit #installation #exhibition #gallery #design

Une photo publiée par Never Apart (@neverapartmtl) le 25 Janv. 2017 à 19h48 PST

The Never Apart gallery in Mile Ex has three exhibitions of interest during BHM: Limit(less) explores how LGBTQ African immigrants navigate their identities; Serious Things A Go Happen: Three Decades Of Dancehall Street Signs; and Assemblage by artist Sandra Brewster which explores the “golden age of the 1960s and 70s of African diaspora.”

Beginning on February 24, the Galerie de l’UQAM and curator Louise Déry present Scottish artist Graham Fagen’s first solo exhibition in Canada, The Slave’s Lament,  which consists of a video installation accompanied by music that’s emblematic of his research on the slave trade, the inhumane treatment of deported populations, and on Scottish involvement in Jamaica. This major work allows for a rich examination of the motifs that put national and cultural identities at odds.

À surveiller en mars prochain 2017. #blackhistorymonth #bhm #bhm2017 #mhdn2017 #blackhistory #galadynastie

Une photo publiée par Mois Histoire des Noirs (@moishistoiredesnoirs) le 22 Déc. 2016 à 19h45 PST

To close BHM, the inaugural Gala Dynastie will honour remarkable Black Montrealers and Quebecers from the worlds of culture, business, media, sports, and community work, nominated in 17 categories in a star-studded award show at the Olympia Theatre on March 5.

The annual BHM blood drive will be held at the Centre CEDA (2515 Delisle) in Little Burgundy, February 18 from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Check out the complete schedule for Black History Month at http://ift.tt/2l56iyh

Up next:Montréal: celebrating 375 winters!

The post Montréal celebrates Black History Month 2017 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

http://ift.tt/2kaZIaN

[jasoncampbellstudio]

Via @mikaelowunna #jasoncampbellstudio

[3pieceonline]

Repost: Beautiful photo series by @mikaelowunna explores the connections between the Black body, the universe and the eternal 😍 See more at AFROPUNK.com : @afropunk http://ift.tt/2mBCprB

[rue14n14]

🖤 Limit(less) @mikaelowunna @ #rainbowhouse #brussels #photography #exhibition #lgbtq #blackness #bruxellesmabelle (à Rainbowhouse)

[queerstarter]

Ending Thurs, Jun 8, 2017.

My name is Mikael Owunna and I am a queer Nigerian-American photographer. Growing up as a queer Nigerian person, I felt that my existence was an inherent contradiction because of my sexuality. I experienced considerable homophobia in African spaces, and was told that being gay was "un-African" - a disease from the West and white people.

Hearing one-sided messages like that from a young age is incredibly damaging to one’s sense of self. Everyone should have the right to be who they are, without hiding key parts of themselves. I saw a lack of stories like mine being told, and knew that something had to change.

I started Limit(less) 3 and a half years ago to create a space where LGBTQ African immigrants could be seen as whole individuals - proud, complicated and celebrated - and share our multifaceted stories with the world. I focus specifically on the LGBTQ African diaspora because we can be visible in ways that many LGBTQ people currently living on the African continent cannot be.

I have shot 34 LGBTQ African immigrants for the project to-date - primarily in North America. These stories can be found online where they are currently archived. Limit(less) has evolved into an online converging space for LGBTQ Africans from around the world. It is a space where we share stories, communicate with one another, and feel validated in our identities.

It wasn’t until it came to fruition that I saw how important curating a space like this is. I do this work in part for future young queer and trans Africans who I imagine stumbling across an entire community of LGBTQ people with stories like theirs. Who are met with acceptance and an embracing of their identities in the midst of a world that tells them that who they are is wrong.

Limit(less) is making this possible.

I am creating the largest digital archive of LGBTQ African immigrant narratives; thus far, it has been shot extensively in North America. But in order to finish the project and capture the full range of diasporic LGBTQ African experiences, I need to bring the project to Europe for a final sprint of shoots this fall.

This is made especially important due to several factors:

Size of European African Community: There are ~4x as many African Immigrants in Europe as in the United States (7-8 million in Europe versus 2 million in the US).

Refugee Crisis in Europe: Over 1 million refugees entered Europe in 2015 alone, with tens of thousands being African some of whom are LGBTQ. I would like to answer- Who are some of these LGBTQ African refugees and what are their stories?

Anti-Immigrant Sentiments in Europe: Brexit, Marine Le Pen in the 2nd round of the French Presidential Election and Far Right Parties gaining ground with incredibly xenophobic rhetoric across Europe. This gravely affects the lives of LGBTQ African immigrants and creates unique experiences for them that I would like to document.

The groundwork has already been laid; there are 20 people already confirmed to shoot in Belgium, France, Portugal, the UK, and Sweden. All I need is your support to get there.

All proceeds from this Kickstarter will go toward travel, lodging, and living expenses in these 5 countries during my 4 months of shooting in Europe.

The final archive will be publicly available online on the Limit(less) website and will exhibit in gallery spaces globally.

[africaequality-blog]

Brian: Queer Rwandan (Canada) 🏳️‍🌈🙌🏾❤Courtesy: @mikaelowunna. #africaequality #africa #marriageequality #queer #biracial #africaphotos #gaycouple #lesbiancouple #blackcouple #lgbt #gay #lesbian #biracial #transgender #trans #bi #gayafrica #lesbianafrica #africanpeople #domesticviolence #racism #stopdiscrimination #lgbtq #lgbtqi #equallove #equalrightsforall #equalrights #equallove #weareallequal #blacklivesmatter