5 Umezebi St., New Haven, Enugu 2012

Njideka Akunyili Crosby made “5 Umezebi St., New Haven, Enugu,” a painting that's like a memory palace built with colour and collage. The palette is warm, but there are these sudden shocks of colour, like the bright orange trousers that pull the eye right into the middle of the scene. The surface is so alive! It's flat, but textured by the layers of images and paint. You can almost feel her building up the space, adding bits of memory, like she is remembering a dream, layering and distorting. It’s a really skillful blend of the personal and the historical. I think how the personal elements are collaged with fragments of photographs that act like wallpaper. The pictures on the wall create a tension between the intimacy of the domestic space and the wider world. The way she uses pattern – in the shirts, the wall – it's like the whole painting is breathing. Njideka reminds me of Chris Ofili who also explores themes of identity and diaspora in his work. Ultimately, what I appreciate most is her ability to create a space that feels both familiar and dreamlike, and how art, like memory, is always under construction.