Odera Igbokwe

Odera Igbokwe (They/Them) is an illustrator and painter located on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Odera loves to explore storytelling through mythology, reclamations, and transformations. Their work is a celebration of the fullness of self, the power to envision, and fantasy as a gateway to healing from collective and generational traumas.

Odera was born of Nigerian parents who immigrated to the United States, and as a result their work explores the magic of the Black Queer imagination, and responds to the fractures that occur via diaspora and displacement. Ultimately their paintings celebrate joy, mundanity, and fantasy coexisting alongside pain and healing.  As an artist and illustrator, Odera works with clients and galleries to create work that is deeply personal, soulful, and intersectional.

Odera holds a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and studied West African Dance Movement and Theatre Arts at Brown University with New Works/World Traditions. Their work has featured in exhibitions, publishing, and gaming. Recent collaborations and exhibitions include working with Scholastic, HarperCollins, Twitter, Patreon, Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, and Holt Renfrew.

EDUCATION
Rhode Island School of Design, BFA in Illustration (Class of 2012)
Brown University, focus in Theater Arts & Performance Studies with New Works/World Traditions.

CLIENTS INCLUDE
Scholastic, Blizzard, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Holt Renfrew, Twitter, Patreon, CBC Comedy, Huffington Post, and FIYAH Magazine
Personal works and commissions for: Beyoncé, Solange Knowles, Oumou Sangaré, and Dawn Richard

EXHIBITIONS & SHOWCASES
Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, SUM Gallery, WOW x WOW, and Every Day Original.

WORK FEATURED IN
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, CBC Arts, Blavity, Afropunk, OkayAfrica,
BlackNerdProblems, MSNBC, Humans of New York, GREE News, @art, Adult Swim