Back with Me Again
Charcoal and contè crayon on paper 2019.
In 2008, Uthman Wahaab began an online friendship with Chichi, a woman he encountered on the now-defunct Yahoo! Chat instant messaging platform.
The two met a year later after extensive virtual dialogue.
During this encounter, Wahaab learned of Chichi’s intense insecurity about her weight. Although their friendships was short lived. Chichi became a muse of sorts. Inspiring Uthman’s decade-long interest in using visual representation. Principally drawing and painting, to challenge body image standards by celebrating and normalizing the corpulent female form.
In this ambitious drawing, Wahaab takes inspiration from his own family photographs to offer a fictional account of Chichi’s life, depicting her as a self-determined and confident woman during ordinary social, religious, civic and familial events.
By
Antawan I. Byrd
Co-Curator
Lagos-biennial