Odili Donald Odita, Resident Artist Lecture 2015

Interdisciplinary artist Donald-Odili Odita gives a lecture at Skowhegan talking about his painting, curatorial, and writing practice. Notions of duality and constantly living in a mode of survival are at the core of Odita’s practice. Odita talk about the need artists have to survive in order to understand the world they live in. For Odita in particular, this world is the home he has created for himself as well as the Nigerian home he has come from. Odita also talks about his painting practice, and how the center of the painting for him operates as a modernist space; where everything that exists outside that space doesn’t matter. As the lecture unfolds, Odita engages with the class of 2015, telling them that art can also be about engaging with other people and engaging with the world we live in, and not just our internal selves. Odita stresses that the people artists work with is the community they will build for themselves. Odita gently pushes these thoughts further, stating that being an artist is also about being a thinker and a human being in the world, which is just as important as being an artist making work. Challenging current curriculums as well as information in order to make change and adequately represent the realities and nuances of the other and the world many different kinds of people inhabit are also at the core of Odita’s practice as an artist and teacher. Thinking about these nuances has allowed Odita to realize that there’s no notion of ownership when it comes to pain, anguish, or experiences. Everyone shares in these things culturally in different ways and there is no ways in equating them for they are all specific and different. Odita states that it is important to recognize and address these differences. Odita ends his lecture talking about the importance of perseverance so we can continue to work, believe in our practices as artists, and engage with a community of peers that can generate dialogue to always help us grow.