DEFIANT! Art That Talks Back, Rowster (Grand Rapids, MI) Spring, 2025
"i want to be" © 2024
Private Collection
Layering imagery of medicinal plants, like Magnolia lilliflora, with a composite of multiple faces, i want to be explores the complex interplay between trauma, culture, identity and healing. Magnolia blossoms have been used for centuries to treat anxiety, stress, depression and many physical ailments, and their deep pink flowers bring joy and fleeting beauty. Collaging this restorative plant with the text:
i want to be
the person I was
before I was told
not to be her
is an attempt to symbolically reintegrate parts of self that can be lost, suppressed or exiled through trauma and the shaming and silencing that can follow. It is also a declaration, a statement of powerful intention toward well-being and wholeness. I hope viewers can channel that energy for their own lives and healing.
i want to be
the person I was
before I was told
not to be her
is an attempt to symbolically reintegrate parts of self that can be lost, suppressed or exiled through trauma and the shaming and silencing that can follow. It is also a declaration, a statement of powerful intention toward well-being and wholeness. I hope viewers can channel that energy for their own lives and healing.
ArtPrize, Kendall College of Art & Design (Grand Rapids, MI) Fall, 2023
"In The Weeds" © 2023
|
Installation View: "In The Weeds" © 2023
|
Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL) Spring, 2022
Marisol III © 2022
|
Installation View: Woman Made Gallery, 2022
|
"Every Imprint Leaves a Mark" Series, Muse GR Gallery (Grand Rapids, MI) Fall, 2021
"I am interested in how our experiences shape who we become and imprint on our being. I hope this work connects with those who struggle to find their place in the world, to take the marks that we carry and transform them into self-understanding."
Every Imprint Leaves a Mark I © 2021
(Private Collection)
|
Every Imprint Leaves a Mark II © 2021
(Private Collection)
|
In the series, "Every Imprint Leaves a Mark," portraits of everyday activities—our son walking the dog, our daughter on a nature hike—are layered with imagery from the rural villages in Nigeria, where my husband was born, and Switzerland where my relatives were farmers. The gold color from traditional Nigerian clothing made for my husband, yet interestingly manufactured in Switzerland, shows up in the radiant color of our son's hoodie and the stitching on my daughter's clothing, a connecting thread. Details from the built and natural landscape fuse, bringing memories of place, time and those who came before.
|
Do Not Disappear Us © 2019 (Private Collection)
Reach © 2022 (Private Collection)
|
Solo © 2021 (Private Collection)
|
Goodbye to All That © 2021 (Private Collection)
|
From the "The Tonic of Wildness" Series:
A Birch So Beautiful © 2021 (Private Collection)
|
Inside Out © 2021
|
January Bramble © 2021 (Private Collection)
|
Installation View — Muskegon Museum of Art, 2021
Portraits:
At The Art Museum, Member © 2021
|
You Have Always Belonged
to the Meadow ©2021
|
Undeterred © 2021
|
Sasha in Green Army Jacket, Memory © 2020
|
Mum, Unfinished © 2020 (Private Collection)
|
Pastel & Mixed Media:
Eva III, © 2020
She Wore Her Tiara to the Fire © 2019 (Private Collection)
|
Miriam © 2019
|
Under Water © 2019
|
Installation View — Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Award Winner: Signature Artists, LLC Award, 2020
What Lies Beneath © 2019
|
Laws of Inaction © 2019
|
Girl Down © 2019
|
From the "Connected/Disconnected" Series:
The Ties That Bind © 2020
|
We Waited For You,
We Faded For You © 2020 (Private Collection)
|
This Is How We Say Goodnight © 2020
|
Disturbing II © 2018
|
Sick & Tired Selfie © 2017
|
Summer Selfie ©2017
|
All images and content © 2025 Cary Okoro. Any unauthorized use or duplication without express and written permission is prohibited.