Office Space
Chelsea Emuakhagbon
Sing About Me
July 22, 2022 - September 4, 2022
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Virtual and by appointment — gallery.office.space.la@gmail.com
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Office Space Burbank is proud to present the debut solo exhibition of Dallas-based conceptual photographer Chelsea Emuakhagbon. With this series of six photographs entitled Sing About Me, the artist examines the internecine relationships amongst home, cultural syncretism, and social justice. Combining color and black and white photography with a documentary style, Emuakhagbon reflects on a movement within current photography toward an emotional approach to spiritual and religious themes. Referencing a Christian humanism that dates back to the seventeenth century, the Victorian family photograph evolved into standard practice within the insular world of the photographic studio before the arrival of the snapshot in the early twentieth.
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Of this series, the artist states the following, “When I first began putting together this project, it felt as though I had nothing else to lose but myself. Like I needed to lose myself within the work so I could know it again. I needed a way back into the reality it manifested, but without the emotional replicas of grief and hopelessness. I needed to be in control, rather than being led by stories untold and therefore presumed. Each of the pieces belonging to this work tell a similar story in that they all refuse to be led by presupposed standards of blackness or beauty; a trait their (unshown) counterparts seem to lack. These pieces rest fixed in realities of their own making, while withholding the urge to react or respond. They simply and freely are. As I went on putting together this work, it occurred to me that every attempt made to maneuver the work from a place of power instead of necessity was the very thing the work required of me as its cooperator. Then it was as if everything I saw halted in response to Heaven’s call for alignment. My lineage is the story this work tells. And my lineage isn’t one to be spoken of or remembered apart from the stories interlaced within Heaven’s truth of equality as expressed through the shedding of holy blood. To loose ourselves of the burdens prejudice limits us by and to love our neighbors as we try to truly love ourselves, is the primary objective of this work. It functions as head representative of the first wave of emotions that prompted me to act on behalf of. It acts as the marker I can look back towards, no matter how painful, for answers on how to set aside this world’s order so I can truly love the images of God. It’s a ripple effect. A chasm split, emptied and lifted up as a sacrifice, sans lamb or bull. It’s a memory of the veil torn in our favor and of a spotless Lamb lifted. It’s a reminder of the ‘why’ which led me here to sing about the One and the many. It’s a promise I’ve made to continue singing until what’s left of me lies within the voices of those willing to sing about me too.”
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Chelsea Emuakhagbon lives and works within the Dallas, TX area.
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email: cemuakhagbon@gmail.com
CHECKLIST OF WORKS
Chelsea Emaukhagbon, Ehi, 2020
digital print, 16” x 20”
Chelsea Emaukhagbon, thirsty, but i want for nothing, 2020
digital print, 16” x 20”
Chelsea Emaukhagbon, say you will (a new light), 2020
digital print, 20” x 16”
Chelsea Emaukhagbon, let me down, 2020
digital print, 20” x 16”
Chelsea Emaukhagbon, hope for the future, 2020
digital print, 20” x 16”
Chelsea Emaukhagbon, great expectations, 2020
digital print, 16” x 20”
