Data Oruwari is a self taught illustrator and graphic designer. As a young girl growing up in Lagos, Nigeria – Data watched her father meticulously put pen to paper to forge beautiful images. This is how she fell in love with Illustration.
Data’s work can best be described as monochrome and intricate. Using mostly a micropen and pencil, she draws patterns, lines and dots that set focus on African subjects. Her work is storytelling void of words or color, where the subject is transformed from something familiar to something peculiar, but all appealing at the same time. She is inspired by tattoo ink artists and hopes that someday people appreciate her work to have it as art on their skin.
Our belief systems are an invisible force that shape our identity. They give us an understanding of who we are and why we are here. So my work focuses on exploring afro-indigenous concepts on spirituality; in relation to my personal experiences as an African woman born into a post-colonial environment, and that of the African diaspora today.
My work aims to decolonize and reclaim a spiritual identity that’s been damaged from centuries-long ‘demonization’ of afro-indigenous belief systems, by telling stories of how my ancestors understood the nature of our collective existence.
I use art as way to heal deep-seated collective wounds of my history, and to celebrate the vibrancy and relevance of the legacy of those that came before me.
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