Àfrica Ollé

Àfrica Ollé is a multidisciplinary artist. Their practice spans a range of media including performance, sculpture, photography, installation art, poetry and essay.

The main subjects Ollé explores within her/their works are discrimination, gender inequality, gender issues, intersectional feminism, patriarchy, ableism, racism, LGBTQ+ issues, the intersection of identities and the full set of -isms and their role in the system of hierarchies.

Ollé’s practice is rooted in research, inquiry, self-reflection and critique. Understanding how the effects of social, cultural and institutionalised conditioning affect our perception and judgment through information or a lack of. Ollé aims through their art practice and research to question what is given and look for what is not seen. To understand their own privilege, dismantle hierarchies. To be an ally. To never stop questioning and educating oneself.

Very often Ollé’s art pieces emerge from personal experiences which then get recontextualised into broader issues as well as her/their ongoing research.

‘These processes arise from a feeling, a need for expression, a call for change, the necessity to express unconformity with the system, to level hierarchies, break with the established canon, and the urgency to create a platform for the people whose voices aren’t heard because of discrimination or because they are excluded from the master narratives.’

Chrysalis

To feel safe.
To heal.
To overcome.
To transform.

No Puc/I Can’t

A performance exploring mental health and the path of healing. The arduous path of depression. A void in the infinite. No tunnel to be found, no light expected. The abyss.

What if this is me? What if this is who I am? What if there is nothing to come out of it?

Questions like these are to be asked by those who suffer from depression. The absorption of the condition as one’s nature, not realising that they are not the disease but that they have a disease.

After several years of suffering from depression, the artist reflects upon the healing, the end of the tunnel, the happiness of finding oneself again.

Looking from outside to see what happened.
Looking from the inside,
still cautious of the world.

One of Àfrica’s ongoing projects is On Your Face, an organization created by and for queer artists with a connection to Wales.

On your face is a platform aiming to bring the queer creatives of Wales to the forefront. Through the creation of a directory of LGBTQ+ creatives of Wales (onyourfacecollective.org), we showcase the LGBTQ+ musicians, designers, writers, artists, and photographers of the area.

Most importantly we want to create opportunities and jobs by and for the queer creatives and bring the LGBTQ+ community together through cultural events such as festivals, exhibitions, workshops.

We started in January 2021 and the amount of members and submissions keeps increasing monthly. We currently have 37 fully registered artists and we are processing another 24 applications.

africaolle.com @africaolle
onyourfacecollective.org @onyourfacecollective