Spotlight
Image courtesy of Umaimah

Spotlight: Animator Umaimah Is Here To Romanticize Your Life

We spoke with the Nigerian digital visual artist about inspiration being everywhere, and in every thing.

In our 'Spotlight' series, we highlight the work of photographers, visual artists, multimedia artists, and more who are producing vibrant, original work.

In our latest piece, we spotlight Nigerian digital visual artist and designer Umaimah. The animator spent her childhood enveloped in the colorful, effervescent world of female-centered fantasy shows, and now uses her craft to recapture the very essence. With a strong emphasis on her identity as a Black African woman and the romanticization of the mundane, Umaimah has manifested the dreams of her younger self as she weaves little Black girls into her narrative animations. The artist's fascination with blending African fashion with ballerina attire has created a beautiful example of the 'Black girl joy' that many young African girls could only dream of. Staying true to her visions has boded well, as Umaimah's career has taken her to animation studios for Disney, Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, and more.

We spoke with Umaimah about making your art understood without dialogue and the power that comes in "looking at the world through rose-colored glasses".

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Can you tell us about the project that first inspired you to create?

There wasn't a particular project that inspired me to start creating, but rather a specific type of animated content I grew up watching that featured fantastic female characters. Stuff like Totally Spies, Winx, and Barbie movies heavily pushed me towards animation. Their influence is clear in my art, with how I use colors and draw my characters.

What are the central themes in your work?

When I look at my work as a singular piece, two things that stick out to me are the importance of identity and the romanticization of everyday life.

Usually, when people hear romance, they think of romantic relationships, but I'm talking about romance as an idealistic way of living. It's about the beauty in everyday things like getting coffee, taking a bath, or wearing your favorite outfit. These moments can be romantic to me; I show that in my work with my use of colors, lighting, or with the expression and pose of my subject. A quote similar to this theme is, "looking at the world through rose-colored glasses." Identity has also been a central theme in my art, where I specifically want my subjects to be Black African girls. Our families didn't raise many of us to see that we can live our lives in a 'romantic' way; instead, there is a constant emphasis on being tough and struggling. While that's OK for some, I want more African girls to know it's not our only option and we can live life like a movie's main character.

Where do you seek inspiration, and how does it find you?

One thing about being an artist is finding inspiration all around you, even when you're not looking for it. I've found inspiration in burnout or during a creative block. Everything around me has inspired me, like nature (especially flowers), my culture, books I've read, the music I love, and the relationships in my life. Recently, I've been inspired by both African and ballerina fashion. The juxtaposition of tulles and soft hues in ballet and the intricate geometric designs from Africa create visually exciting pieces and compositions in my art.

What do you believe sets African artists apart from the rest of the world?

A lot separates us from other artists; apart from being the only ones who can authentically capture the African experience in our work, we also carry the responsibility of presenting Africa to the world. As more African countries develop, more Africans can see art as a realistic career, which means that we get to have the chance to control our narratives more than we could in the past. With some of us coming from communities that hardly encourage artistic skills, we have no option but to mentor and teach ourselves everything about art, design, and creative thinking. I think that's pretty remarkable and resilient.

Can you talk about your use of colors and accessories?

Colors and accessories play a huge role in my work. They both serve as storytelling tools. As an artist and designer in animation, people should be able to interpret the story of any piece you create by just looking at it. "Story is king," as many animation professionals say. Color plays a role here because specific colors portray certain moods, which tells you half the story. It's why I prioritize it in my work. I need my art to be understood even without dialogue. Props and accessories do the same thing, but specifically for the characters in my art, I make it so anyone can quickly tell their personalities from their accessories.

What's something you wish someone told you at the beginning of your journey?

There's so much I wish I had known when I started chasing art and design as a career. I'll share two to start:

I wish I knew that it was okay not to be perfect while starting out and that it's okay to ask for help from your peers. I also wish I had been more patient with my artistic growth. I used to beat myself up for not being as good as people who had been in the animation field for five years. I still catch myself slipping down that path, and now can consciously talk myself out of it. I was rushing to find my style and voice because I felt I needed to do that to be as good as other artists who had established careers and seemed to have it together. Now, being friends with some of those artists, I've learned they've had their hard times too. Comparing myself at that point didn't benefit me or my work, but it slowed me down.

Image courtesy of the artist

Artwork by Umaimah

Art
Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

Germany To Return Nigeria’s Stolen  Bronzes

In a recently signed deal, Germany has reached an agreement to return Nigeria's looted Bronzes.

Germany just signed an agreement to return some of Nigeria's Benin Bronzes. These bronzes were originally taken from the African nation in the 19th century. Other European countries have been taking steps toward returning African artifacts. Earlier this month, a British museum said that it would be returning over 70 Benin cultural artifacts which were forcibly taken during the 1897 military rule to the Nigerian government.

According to reports from Aljazeera, the agreement happened on Thursday, Aug. 25, between the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (SPK) and Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). For years, experts have estimated that approximately 90% of Africa's cultural heritage can be found all over European museums and storage facilities, and in the early part of the 20th century, many European museums were competing among themselves to discover which European art center had the most number of African historical items in their possession. According to reports, these competitions were not only prominent in large cities like Berlin and London, but also existed in smaller museums like the Linde Museum in Stuttgart. In the first massive restitution to Africa by a former European colonial power, last year France's President Emmanuel Macron shared that France would return 26 of Benin's artifacts that were stripped from a royal palace in Abomey, now Southern Benin in 1892.

For over a century, Africans fought to regain ownership and possession of the looted artifacts while they were housed in museums across the Europe and the United States, but they have become a long journey home.

Photo Credit: Bernd Weißbrod/picture alliance via Getty Images

According to the agreement, the items will be taken back to Nigeria this year, while many of the other objects will remain in Germany's custody for approximately ten more years as a loan. Nigeria's Abba Isa Tijani, a Nigerian professor, and the overseeing director general of the NCMM said that this was a positive step in the right direction, and urged other museums in possession of African artifacts to follow in Germany's footsteps.

“This represents the future concerning the artifacts issue; a future of collaboration among museums, a future of according respect and dignity to the legitimate requests of other nations and traditional institutions,” said Tijani.


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