“The paintings I create depict neglected architectural spaces with traces of both their former human inhabitants and the external forces that brought about their desolation. These rooms, halls and passageways reflect the narratives of the people who lived within them. The violence of those former dwellers’ removal remains ingrained in the histories of these spaces, and through the process of making my work, I reconstruct them to retell the human narratives embedded within their walls.”

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L to R: Mirror Ceiling: A Room with a Mattress and a Chair, 2017; Kambui Olujimi, Fathom, 2017

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Mirror Ceiling: A Room with a Mattress and a Chair, 2017
Acrylic, gouache, lace, archival inkjet print and cement on canvas and fabric
48 x 120 in.

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Those Who Got Entangled, 2020
Acrylic, lace, cement, barbed wire, and archival inkjet print on canvas and fabric
63 x 90 in.

This interview has been edited, read the full interview here.

Interviews were conducted by Chenée Daley; a Jamaican-born, New York-based multi-genre writer, whose work encompasses poetry, prose, and song. Grounded in the tender narratives of personal histories where place and memory connect, her work has won the first place writing prize from the University of the West Indies, the Caribbean Small Axe writing prize, the Denis Diderot [A-I-R] fellowship from Chateau Orquevaux in Ardenne, France and was recently shortlisted for the Eddie Baugh poet laureate of Jamaica prize. Her work appears in The Wall Street Journal, The Jamaica Observer, Small Axe Journal, The Cordite Review, American Chordata, and BOMB magazine. She has an MFA in writing from Columbia University.

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