Chioma Ebinama: Leave the Thorns and Take the Rose

“In 2019, I wished that there would be a global catastrophe that might put the world on pause. All I wanted was a moment when humanity would have no choice but to do nothing: No ambitions, no directions, no expectations,” says Athens-based artist Chioma Ebinama. 
And we all know what happened next. 
“But nothingness and directionless has not been as liberating as one would expect. Letting go is difficult, even if you’ve asked for it, even if you have someone to make out with.”
Ebinama captured this strange and confronting era “of a woman living in a fishbowl in Athens” in a series of figurative, often surreal, watercolours on paper for The Breeder Gallery in Keramikos. Raised in the United States by Nigerian Christian immigrants, this hot emerging artist has been a professional nomad in recent years, seeking to create new mythologies for the African Diaspora while bunking down in Mexico, South Korea, India, Malaysia and now, Greece. This is her first solo show in Athens.