When I attended the interview for those shortlisted for the Associate Artist Programme, I recalled seeing the book “Genocide in Nigeria” by the late Ogoni activist, Ken Saro Wiwa in the ONCA office.

The time I saw the book was during meetings when I was planning my first solo—also at ONCA. The sight of that book connected me back to my place of origin and was an unexpected gesture of recognition for the ecological issues I thought I carried alone in Brighton. I kept that moment of recognition with me as I pitched a new body of work focusing on ecological issues in the Niger Delta for the 2024 RDLS programme.

Given the limited resources and time for the residency, I am appreciative of the trust ONCA had in me to complete this new work. When it came time for the exhibition, Susuana Amoah, the Head of Programmes shared her vision on how to show the work in its best light. The process of co-curation pushed me beyond my boundaries as an academic who has been trained with a specific view of galleries as “neutral/blank spaces”. The transformation of the gallery moved my screen-based work from flat 2D moving images to a 3D environment that encouraged guests to immerse themselves into the complicated worlds shown in the work. As if all that was not enough, Susuana and former ONCA Director, Persephone Pearl, persevered through Storm Darragh to set up the place and co-facilitate a workshop, so guests had a warm space to engage with my work on a deeper level.

ONCA is a rare example of art spaces where social change meets curation as care. I am grateful to have my work shown as their closing exhibition. They will truly be missed for all their contributions.

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Tokini Fubara is a Niger-Deltan creative practitioner and lecturer working in animation, game design, and installation art. They concluded their doctorate at the University of Sussex on the colonial project of biometric surveillance and its contemporary applications in migration. Their works include I’m New Here (2015), an animated documentary and photovoice project on queer African migrants in Winnipeg, Canada; an installation piece Border Ritual (2016) shown at the Hastings Art Forum; Border Ritual 2.0 (2017), a video game exhibited during London Design Week as part of Code Liberation’s group show at the Victoria and Albert Museum; and DREAMS OF DISGUISE (2018) a 3D animation and video game on migration and biometric surveillance first exhibited at ONCA Gallery.