ALESSANDRA AKIWUMI

When did you first become interested in art?

I’ve always liked creating imaginary worlds and making things with my hands and, I was lucky that my family encouraged me to express my creative side. I used to paint and draw after school and on the weekends but it was only until I made cyanotypes in school that my interest grew into something more serious. I think I was about 12 years old, and I remember seeing the image slowly come to life and being so amazed and fascinated with the process. From then on my heart was set on art. I took as many art classes as I could in school and I was always told to pick a more diverse range of subjects, but I was so convinced on art that I didn’t feel the need to. I went to as many exhibitions and museums as I could and began reading about some artists. I remember getting a book "13 Artists Children Should Know", I read that one very quickly! I continued to draw and paint and started to take photographs on a small digital camera before learning how to use a 35mm.

How did you get to where you are today in your practice?

After graduating from a liberal arts college in the States, I knew I wanted to get a masters in Fine Art. For me, it was a way to solidify my practice and also become more sure of myself as an artist. Even though I knew art was what I wanted to do quite early on, I still had to balance my time with other subjects. So I wanted to dedicate all my time to my practice and have structure to support my work and development. Moving to London definitely was the best thing for my

practice. Studying at the Chelsea College of Arts was a challenging experience but it gave me confidence in myself and my work. The artists and friends that are around me have really pushed me to develop my practice and become more adventurous with my work. Making art is not as solitary as I had once imagined, and the conversations I have with my friends and other artists are so important to me. It’s the connections I’ve made that lead to really incredible collaborations, that all feed into my practice. Another thing that pushed me to where I am, is experimentation. I used to be more cautious but as I began to let go and experiment with different formats of film cameras and ways of manipulating and altering the image, I started to develop a body of work that was more in tune with who I am as a person and artist.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career?

Getting exposure and showing my work to a larger audience is definitely the most challenging aspect. From my experience, it is so hard to get your foot in the door because it doesn’t just depend on your work but it also depends on the people you know. I think now though, there’s a massive collective effort to showcase emerging artists because there’s so much talent out there. Hopefully, that will continue and bring more talented artists into the spotlight.

Where do you find inspiration?

I get inspired by many different things. I absolutely love films, especially

psychological thrillers that warp your perception of what’s real and what’s not. I look at a lot of cinematographers like Tony Gaudio’s work. It’s really incredible. I also get a lot of inspiration from music and song lyrics. A current favourite of mine is 070 Shake’s new album Modus Vivendi. It’s so dreamlike and poetic. With my most recent project, I’ve been researching the 19th-century phantasmagoric theatre technique. In the theatres in Paris, they would use lanterns, screens and smoke to create these amazingly eerie illusions of ghosts. They would use this technique to disorient the audience and create a whole other world so far removed from reality. So I’m really interested in taking those key aspects of it and putting a contemporary twist on them.

Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment?

Catherine Yass, is one of my favourite artists. Her use of analog film and her different techniques of film manipulation is incredible. I love how devoted she is to analog, especially in this digital world. The way she treats the medium is so interesting and it really breaks down the limitations of photography. Rachid Johnson is an artist I’m really loving now—his work is so rich and dynamic. Some other artists I admire are two of my friends, Melania Toma and Georgia Dymock. Melania’s use of materials and colour is incredible and Georgia’s paintings are so playful and whimsical.

What's one thing people should know about you?

Apart from art, football is my other passion. I’m a huge Liverpool fan. I never miss a match!