Yadichinma…..Undefined Expressionism

Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu, simply known as Yadi, is a 21 year old multidisciplinary artist, living, schooling and working in Lagos. Originally from Ohafia, Abia State, she has lived most of her life in Lagos. She grew up loving all genres of art and, through the years, has found expression in forms such as painting, drawing, dancing, photography, digital art and collaging. Yadi finds a peculiar unison in all expression, which makes it easy for her to explore. She is deeply curious about definitions, in the terms of what we would perceive things as or how we are perceived, and therefore finds herself simultaneously exploring various forms of expression in short amounts of time.

She aims to create work that would inspire its audience to become aware of their own being and creative realities, as well as invoke thoughts and questioning. Her work is not limited to one genre or form of expression and it aims to expose the audience to the flexibility of art, definitions and the world. In Yadi’s words, her work can be defined as “a testament to my life on its continuous journey”. Her art records some part of her consciousness with lines, forms and colour. While creating, she strives to merge direct representations of her experiences with indirect ones. Yadi’s work mostly centers on the idea of the simplest things being able to evolve into more complex things and complex things being broken down to their bare minimum. It explores how definitions shape our perception, and sometimes invoke reactions from us.

Over the last year, Yadichinma has been featured in a number of exhibitions in galleries such as Re.Le and A Whitespace Creative Agency. She is currently participating in the COMPASSION workshop and has undertaken a few personal projects of her own. For Yadichinma, being able to share her work and have people communicate their experiences after being affected or not affected by it is one of the most fulfilling parts of what she does.

In her own words:

“I am gifted with the opportunity to actively take part and witness the evolution of my own personal ideas, affected by things that have come from within and without, be it by the seeming lack of understanding, comparison or critique. I aim to set a good place for thoughts and questioning with my work in the hearts and souls of everyone that comes across my work, and in that same process awakening them to the endless possibilities they bear in themselves, and that all things in turn bear.”