Nigeria

Abi Salami

"Don't Look Back in Anger" is one piece of a recent body of work featuring Black women by contemporary artist, Abi Salami. 

"Remi sat on the edge of the rocky beach. The cool wind felt amazing against her skin. "This place is more beautiful than anywhere I've been on Earth," she thought to herself. Earth. At once, the bad memories surrounded her. She quickly found herself overanalyzing her mistakes again; viewing them from all angles, playing them back over and over like a movie she could not stop watching. Just when the pain became too much for her to bear, a gentle breeze caressed her face, and she opened her eyes, and realized she was still on the beach with the beautiful view. She made a point to remember that she was no longer on Earth. She no longer had to keep reliving those memories over and over. She simply had to find her "beach" and live in that true, pure, and beautiful moment."
-Abi Salami 

Salami's works are in a modern day surrealist style, giving the viewer the sense of an alternate universe. René Magritte with soul. Abi positions her female African American subjects in a distant realm where one can heal and grow, safe from societal pressures. Her pleasing pastels calms the mind and body while she speaks about heavy subjects such as mental health & rehabilitation not often addressed in her culture. Her works show us the power of healing while simultaneously celebrating Black Joy. In this piece, Abi Salami uses three angles to explore the thought of not overanalyzing a bad memory and dwelling on the past. 



Abi Salami

Don't Look Back in Anger

Gallery 1202

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