2021–2022
Ayo Akingbade (UK) is an artist working predominantly with moving image, addressing notions of power, urbanism, and stance. Interested in the fluid boundaries between the self and the other, she gathers local and cultural experiences in intimate and playful interpretations. She is best known for her documentary shorts, including Street 66 (2018), about Ghanaian housing activist Dora Boatemah and her work in Brixton, London. Her film Tower XYZ (2016) received a Special Mention Award at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and won the inaugural Sonja Savić Award at Alternative Film/Video Festival, Belgrade. Her work has been presented in numerous exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the Whitechapel Art Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts. Akingbade has been featured in articles for Art Viewer, ArtDaily and ARTnews. Akingbade is a recipient of the Sundance Ignite Fellowship (2018) and exhibited in Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2018). She is a graduate of London College of Communication and is currently studying at Royal Academy Schools.
The most important validation for any artist who is “realistic” and “concerned with the Black community” is exemplified in the films of Ayo Akingbade through her clear authorship, unique point of questioning, and her earnest personal motivations for story-telling. Her filmography so far shows how Black art might begin from the documentation within the category of Blackness and push out to the margins of constructive differences. —Rianna Jade Parker