Read/Make/Watch/Listen

“Following a brief exhibition walkthrough, Wahi and Olujimi spoke about joy, loss, memory, and contemporary politics. WALK WITH ME is a collection of nearly 200 ink-wash portraits on paper by Kambui Olujimi. These works are all derived from a single photograph taken in the late 1950s, of Ms. Catherine Arline, who was the artist’s longtime mentor, friend, and guardian angel. This work is both an homage to a single person; and an exploration of how we construct memories. It braids together ideas of monumentality, myth, and memoriam ideas that Olujimi has been working with over the past several years. “These portraits slide in and out of fidelity and accurate rendering, alternating between gestural watery movements and tight “faithful” renderings. The collection offers no truths. Their origin remains elusive, blurring between the latent images we create images between each work, leaving us to build and rebuild each memory in between each retelling.” It is an exploration of loss, love, and how we create memorials through moments and talismans. On a micro level, it explores an individual methodology of grief and memoriam. On a macro scale, the exhibition questions how we collectively preserve memory through idealized monuments versus the imperfect collective process of remembrance.”