Moving to Words, 2023 | Video Performance and Installation, 30 mins
Poems: Monthy Woes | 2023, Sticks and Stones | 2023 by Tomilola Olumide
Materials (Body, acrylic paint, charcoal, oil pastels, balloons, calabash, cowry shells, hair extension, knitting needles)
‘Moving to Words’ is an audiovisual performance and installation that presents physical body and object movements inspired by spoken word poetry written and performed by Tomilola Olumide. The project debuted in August 2023 in the EOP Summer Camp 2023 Show x Micro Residency at Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK.
Olumide's poems ‘Monthy Woes’ and ‘Sticks and Stones’ collectively exude spaces of emotional navigation through the subjects of 'prospective motherhood, female health, shame, pride, self-awareness, romantic love, body and self-love.' In an exercise reflecting on 'shadow work' as a place of fundamentally understanding the continuous work healing carries between childhood to present adulthood, Olumide projects feelings of displacement between life passages and reclamation of agency despite them.
Employing varying body movements projected through the performances’ duration and evocative life experiences embedded within memories which are lived within the body, both mentally and physically; Tomilola integrates play and manipulation of varying objects, tools and memorabilia both found and personal (physical body, acrylic paint, charcoal, oil pastels, balloons, calabash, cowry shells, hair extension, knitting needles, aboniki jar). These materials are sporadically used as expressions of movement and medium, experimentally helping with physical and spiritual expressions of the poem’s subject matter.
Olumide's unapologetic practice of release and reclamation of agency hopes to hold safe spaces for her audience, allowing a garner of strength, resilience and grace for themselves, whence they came and the journey ahead.
Learn more
Moving to Words, 2023 | Performance Video: https://youtu.be/tiy06owQG04
Monthly Woes, 2023 | Poetry: https://www.tomilolaolumideart.com/monthly-woes-2023
Sticks and Stones, 2023 | Poetry: https://www.tomilolaolumideart.com/sticks-and-stones-2023
Eastside Projects Summer Camp Summer 2023 Micro Residency Exhibition: https://eastsideprojects.org/esp/projects/summer-camp-2023/
The EOP Summer Camp 2023 Show x Micro Residency at Eastside Projects, also included work from fellow Artists, GLUE Collective, Crow Dillon-Parkin, Rachel Magdeburg, and Adam Wynn): https://eastsideprojects.org/esp/projects/summer-camp-2023/
Special thanks to Artist Curator Jaz Morrison and Dinosaur Kilby for curatorial support.