2015

M7

American (born Nigeria), born 1985

A regular ballpoint pen sparked Toyin Ojih Odutola’s initial love of art-making. Using only basic drawing materials—pen, pencil, pastel, charcoal—Ojih Odutola explores the representation of skin as a surface and as a social marker of identity. Here she chose to render the prismatic skin of her subject in pencil. Working on black paper, she blended and shaded the graphite to create a silvery patchwork of textures and tones on the figure’s upper torso and face. “I’ve always felt the portrait is an occasion for marks to happen,” the artist has said. “I’ve never viewed the portrait as about the sitter.” Ojih Odutola’s shining compositions reimagine the genre of portraiture.