born 2003 in Houston, Texas
lives and works in New York, London, Lagos and Dubai
(she/her/hers)

Making for a future unknown to her, Onajevwe longs to leave a prior version of herself in a room as a trace to be found. The number four sits at the core of her identity. It offers her solace and acts as a symbol intertwined with her name.

She leans toward domestic materials. Their natural origins sit beside their commodified reality and she moves toward their quiet familiarity. Into each surface she pours resin, holding images in place and preserving moments of Black being she considers essential. Her ancestors guide her through this process. They are the pulse behind her eyes and the glitter as it travels across the work. She feels them in her chest like a burning star.

She once described herself as a spirit child, one who senses beyond what is visible. Onajevwe is captivated by art making. The not knowing arrives first and then the becoming follows. A tightness in her throat and then release. It is euphoric.

To live as a Black being often renders her work political, although it is not born from that desire. Her practice resists whiteness as neutrality and resists the erasure of Black seeing. Her path is one of ancestral return and continual remembrance.