Inward with artist Roanna Tella
In partnership with Stay Home Gallery, I present Inward, a virtual exhibition curated by Jasmine Wilson, one of the 2021 curatorial fellows. You should think of these special episodes as mini-artist talks for the virtual exhibition. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be dropping mini-episodes featuring all the artists in the show talking about their inspiration and artistic process. In this episode, we talk with artist Roanna Tella. She talks about the quarantine experience in Lagos, Nigeria where she is based. Roanna let’s us know about the ways her art helped her cope with anxieties, working in watercolor, and how colors express her ideas. Check out the show at https://www.stayhomegallery.com/exhibitions/inward and listen to the episodes to hear more.
“Let me tell you how I got Kilimanjaro to do my bidding” painting by Roanna Tella
As an exhibition inspired by our collective isolation and intimate encounters with ourselves, Inward centers the work of artists who confront their beauty, identity, and personal struggles through portraiture. This gesture to explore the inner Self, particularly during the global pandemic, is personal in nature and inspired me to call upon this group of artists to provide a visual opening into their inner worlds. The artworks included in this exhibition feature artists’ battles with anxiety and illness, as well as their transcendence of chaos and feelings of inner peace while surrounded by family and loved ones. By centering their narratives, it is my goal to inspire critical discourse surrounding the lessons and realizations that surface as a result of our individual reckoning with the need to transform amid moments of uncertainty and change.
See More: Inward Virtual Exhibition + Roanna Tella IG @roannatella
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