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MUTATINGORIGINS:

A PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTALLATION BY ADEYEMI ADEBAYO

JANUARY 21 - 
FEBRUARY 28
Split Level Gallery: Mezzanine Level Artist Reception: January 13, 5-8pm



Experimental documentary photography investigating the migrant identities of postcolonial African diaspora







Mutating Origins examines departure from one’s homeland, the fluxality and liminality of migrants and their identities, the duality of home and belonging, as well as migrants’ use of space, materiality of movement, the expectations of home and elsewhere, and the dimensions of return.  The collection of images include portraits of people in their homes highlighting ways they re-create an aesthetic, culture, and affiliation to their place of origin, photographs of mementoes they have brought along on first arrival, evoking what’s lost or left behind and what is carried on to new places of abode, and photographs of spaces (church, football fields, festival spaces, African stores, etc) in which first-generation migrants form ties of affiliation and community.

Counterpointing these series of thematically synchronous works, the project seeks to answer the question of how contemporary African migrants negotiate and navigate identity, and how new engagement with race, home and belonging, memory and history shape this negotiation. 

ADEYEMI ADEBAYO was born in Osun, Nigeria, and is a documentary photographer interested in themes of home, belonging, migration, and the environment. He received his undergraduate degree in Agriculture and a Master's in Ecology and Population Genetics, and is currently doing a Master's in Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts. Adeyemi’s work has been featured in Nataal, Oulun yliopistolehti, Defunkt magazine, and NoWahala Magazine. He is the recipient of the Frank and Folwell Photography Award 2024, the 2024 ACDD grant, the 2024 University of Massachusetts UMCA Eva Fierst Curatorial Fellowship, and the Factory of Willow 2024 Summer Resident Artist.  www.paakanni.com IG: papaakanni  





A.P.E.'s programming is made possible in part by sustained support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.