Abi Salami NG, b. 1986

Abi Salami is a self-taught artist who creates large-scale surrealist works that explore her experiences as a Nigerian immigrant and Black woman in the United States. Through the use of a personal visual lexicon made up of symbols, she explores topics such as memory, mental health, and race. 

“My work is an exploration of my experiences as a Nigerian immigrant and a Black woman in the United States. My large-scale works are based in surrealist dreamscapes of my own creation, in which the fearless celebration of black femininity is fervently revered. As maker and gatekeeper of this fictional space, most of my works are intimately autobiographical in nature. Therefore, some of my works are proud and triumphant, others are cheeky and humorous, while the rest deal with heavier, darker topics. In a world in which stories about black women have rarely ever been told by black women, I like to believe that I am using my work to curate an experience that allows viewers to respectfully gaze on the black female form in her honest state, free from European standards of beauty and the violent oppression of men. I wish to show that there is great and untapped depth in the black female experience while celebrating our humanity.”

- Abi Salami