Week 6 (Sheku Koroma)

The inspiration for my collage could be given to the artist Wangechi Mutu. Her way of breaking down the physical image to create something alien and personal inspired me. The name of collage is called “Forethought”. While looking through multiple articles and videos of Wangechi Mutu, I took inspiration. One of the articles was called ‘Wangechi Mutu: An Imagined World Made Possible’. “Fantastic as they may be, Mutu’s beings are solid and real with a high degree of what might be called local specificity. It’s as if she wants to make as tangible as possible a world free of divisions between races, genders, and species.” Also, I have attempted to create a connection between her freedom and alienation in my work. Her use of materials is very astounding, and she gives these collages a social, regal, and magical quality.

I chose to make a collage for this project that in some way reflected how I saw myself. I created my collage digitally by scrounging up items that seemed foreign to the outer world but reflected myself. I made an effort to stretch myself and think about how I see myself throughout the endeavor. It was also the second time I had edited something digitally and shared it with the public. Chess was my starting point, and that helped to establish my concept. I chose chess in particular since I had only recently begun playing it and it was something new to me. In chess, if you want to take advantage of the game you have to think of your moves ahead of time and plan for the future. That's where I took my connection from because I often find myself thinking ahead, and knowing things that are gonna happen before they do happen

Icons and objects that represent me can be found in my collage. One of them is a pair of wing-shaped earrings. It represents me because I'm independent and not easily swayed in what I want to achieve. To give it a new appearance, I added three antennae that resemble aliens. The particles that are observed leaving my face could represent my ability to utilise my entire being in all aspects of life. Whatever you want to depict, that's how I feel. The pond beneath my head is the anchor that pulls my collage together and stands for serenity and harmony. I used the illustration to illustrate my athleticism; if you look underneath my left eye, you can see several Olympic-style figures running in a single line. Last but not least, the collage and artwork's title, "forethought," is written beneath my head.

"Forethought by Sheku Koroma"

“In Two Canoe” (2022) by Wangechi Mutu

“Riding Death in My Sleep,” from 2002 by Wangechi Mutu

"Her collages, sculptures and videos examine the exploitation, resilience and grandeur of Black women, as social, spiritual and mythic beings. "

-Nice

"The shifting associations of this strange but appealing entity include a Voodoo priestess in flowing robes, a meditating Buddha or Madonna and Child sitting on the ground (note the bare foot). Yet it can also look like an ugly deep-sea fish, greedy for light."

-Interesting

"I think that I was witnessing how the body is politicized in art. I was always interested in the power of the body, both as an image and as an actual mechanism through which we exist and find out who we are. "