Growing up, Lola Ogbara was always doing something artistic, and though she may not have understood art as a profession, she was never without a creative form.
“I was one of the lucky ones,” she said.
When she figured out later that she could continue doing what she loves as an adult, the St. Louis artist went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in arts entertainment and media management from Columbia College in Chicago, and an MFA in visual arts from Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts.
Ogbara is an interdisciplinary artist, sculptor and arts administrator, with additional experience in mixed media, painting, design, photography and illustration. Her practice explores the multifaceted implications and ramifications of sexuality in regard to the Black experience. She works with clay as a material in order to emphasize a necessary fragility that symbolize an essential contradiction implicit in empowerments.
In 2017, she co-founded Artists in the Room, a collective of artists and scholars who host artists at all levels of their careers, serving as a catalyst for artist development and networking. Ogbara has also received numerous fellowships and awards, including the Multicultural Fellowship sponsored by the NCECA 52nd Annual Conference.
Her recently launched debut solo exhibition, “Pleasure is All Mine” at The Gallery at The Kranzberg, centers on examining physical textures and possible reimaginings of the Black feminine experience in the United States, with original works in sculpture, collage and photography, with fractured and collaged images alongside folded and creased clay sculptures.
Ogbara recently took the time to discuss with Gazelle her background, her inspirations and future plans.
Mixed media on mirror, 8” x 8”
Are you originally from St. Louis? I am originally from Chicago, IL. I’ve spent the last 6+ years in St. Louis so STL has become my second home.
What is the goal of Artists in the Room? Artists in the Room is an arts collective based in St. Louis that I co-founded with three other friends. Our mission is to connect emerging Black artists with Black artists and arts professionals who visit the city. We launched in 2017 after noticing a void – Black artists and arts professionals would visit the city and only a select few of Black artists or Black residents with an interest in the arts would be aware of the visit and would rarely have the opportunity to interface with them. Ultimately, we filled the void.
Mixed media on mirror, 8” x 8”
What is the inspiration for your work overall? As an artist whose identity is based primarily in the intersections of Blackness, queerness and womanhood, my practice becomes a way in which I process circumstances situated within these identities, whether occurring in the past, present or future. The subjugation of identity, gender and sexuality is one entity I examine closely, alongside tensions of hyper-visibility and invisibility associated with Black femininity. Using sculpture, installation, photography and collage, I explore the implications of sexuality surrounding gender and race.
What specifically are you trying to convey with the solo show at The Kranzberg? “Pleasure is All Mine” is a compilation of works (sculpture, collages and photographs) that uses “othered” and grotesque rhetorics as visual aesthetics, alongside pleasure activism frameworks to imagine a unique lens, in which the gaze Western society has of the Black femme experience is excluded and denied full access. Exploring moments that alter the power dynamics of the gaze, I distort images and objects, ultimately, blurring the line between body and entity.
Stoneware; 21” x 21” x 14.5”
How did you come up with the name for this exhibit, “Pleasure is All Mine?” It was originally taken from the title of my MFA thesis. This exhibition is essentially my thesis in physical form.
Mounted Polaroid, 2” x 3”; 20″ x 20″
What is your favorite medium? I don’t have one favorite medium. Each medium becomes a way in which I express a certain feeling or a certain message. Clay may be able to express a grotesque visual aesthetic with textures and color better than illustration or photography. Photography may offer a flatness or two-dimensionality that clay may not. And so on and so forth …
What is your goal as an artist? My goal as an artist is to maintain my love and passion for the work that I do. I hope to continue growing in all facets of my practice.
“Pleasure is All Mine” will be on view by appointment only through Monday, Sept. 7, at The Gallery at The Kranzberg at 501 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63103. To reserve a time to see the exhibit, visit kranzbergartsfoundation.org/the-kranzberg/#attendanevent.
For more information on Ogbara, visit lolaogbara.com leaux@lolaogbara.com.
