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Untitled (In a trance, she walked out onto her reflection, closed her eyes and received a plan from beyond the mountains) (work of art)

Artwork Info

Created
2021
Artist
Christopher Udemezue (American, born 1986)
Dimensions
36 × 48 inches (91.4 × 121.9 centimeters)

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number
2022.4/dc
Culture
American
Classification
Photography
Department
Modern

Key Ideas

  • This large-scale digital image is an example of staged narrative photography. It uses a single image to tell a story. The scene is staged, or artificially constructed. 
  • Christopher Udemezue is a contemporary artist and activist. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
  • Udemezue creates visual art that features queer models and expands Caribbean representation in New York City.
  • Udemezue’s work often explores themes of reclaiming and celebrating the human body. His art is influenced by his identity as a queer Caribbean American.

Learn More

Christopher Udemezue (also known as Neon Christina) is a Brooklyn-based visual artist, event promoter, and community organizer. His photographs offer a new perspective on Caribbean and African American history. His work features queer models in staged scenes that tell a story by combining dreams and imagination with folklore and historical events. Some of the models in Udemezue’s photographs represent real people who helped liberate enslaved people throughout Caribbean history.

There’s a lot of bickering within the Caribbean community but also a power we have when we actually join together. I wanted to reclaim this work that I was seeing in the art history books but breathe life into these stories. I’m bringing the queerness because it has existed since the beginning—there are so many queer orishas [Yoruba deities] and so many queer gods. I’m on a self-journey to learn through my work but also to reflect the breadth of queerness, Blackness, and storytelling.

Christopher Udemezue

Untitled (in a trance. . .) features four models posing in an imagined scene that takes place in a jungle setting at night. It is part of a series of photographs titled Under the Palm Tree Leaves. In these dreamlike images, Udemezue uses dramatic lighting and composition to reimagine historical moments and explore themes of spirituality, hope, and love. According to the artist, his work highlights both the beauty and the complicated history of his Jamaican heritage. 

In the face of so much violent history, my ancestors found strength to rebel . . . taking care of each other with spirituality that was indeed divination . . . [it] wasn’t just “magic” but medicine.

Christopher Udemezue

In 2016 Udemezue founded Ragga NYC, a series of art and nightlife events for queer Caribbean artists and allies in New York City.

Additional Resources

Resources for Teachers

  • Watch a video to hear the artist describe how his Jamaican heritage, gender identity, and race influence his work.
  • Visit a web page to read about Udemezue’s 2021 solo exhibition and see more photographs from his Under the Palm Tree Leaves series.
  • Read an article about the ways in which Udemezue’s art connects Caribbean and queer communities.

 

Resources for Students

Images

  • A color photograph of four people with dark skin tones in a nighttime jungle scene

    Untitled (In a trance, she walked out onto her reflection, closed her eyes and received a plan from beyond the mountains)