Simmone Ahiaku meditates on a conversation with director Tobi Onabolu.
JoinedFebruary 22, 2019
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Tobi Onabolu is a filmmaker, creative director, poet, and cultural strategist, focused on pan-African cultural advocacy. Tobi's
Ikigai is, "to support the empowerment of Black people globally, connecting the dots through inter-continental cultural collaboration. Phase one is through healing."
Interrogating topics of race, identity, space, and spirituality, Tobi creates works which centre the Black (human) experience
in the journey of healing. He depicts the process of wellness, self-love, and self-care, exploring the human body as both subject and object. He focuses on movement through internal and external energy flows, capturing the tangible manifestation of healing. His recently released short film, Dear Black Child, speaks directly to this philosophy.
His work has seen him collaborate with the likes of Uber, Bumble, Foot Locker, ART X Lagos, and IAMISIGO, with poetry performances
at the Royal Albert Hall and Soho House amongst others. His work has been featured across exhibitions, newspapers and billboards, as well as in publications such as Dazed, gal-dem, AFROPUNK, GQ, Postscript London, Genevieve Magazine, and shado mag.
Tobi holds an MA in Africa Studies from SOAS, University of London, with a thesis focussed on his great-uncle, artist Chief Aina Onabolu, who is widely acknowledged and celebrated as the founding father of Nigerian modernism.
Tobi divides his time between West Africa and London.
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