Biography

David Ụzọchukwu is an Austrian-Nigerian artist whose work deals with longing and belonging, Black and queer ecologies, and the fantastic. His commercial photography includes collaborations with musicians FKA Twigs and Pharrell, fashion designer Iris Van Herpen, and the World Wildlife Fund. He also has received commissions from Dior and Hermès.

Mare Monstrum — Drown in My Magic (2016 – ongoing)

Drawing on stories of deities and fantastic creatures from the African continent and diaspora, as well as European fairy tales and mythologies, Mare Monstrum – Drown in my Magic engages modern and historical links between Blackness and water. It references the contemporary refugee crisis – some of the images were shot on location in a coastal town in Senegal, a launching point for the journey to Europe’s southern shores. The photographs shown here are digitally reconfigured, where hybrid characters brand fishlike fins and tails and their flesh morphs into bodies of water. Water acts as an expanse of belonging, safety, and autonomy, while also marking the dangers and pleasures of transformation. The series decentralizes the exclusionary idea of the human, where its characters find freedom in the monstrous.