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The Arts Intel Report

Frida Orupado: I Have Seen a Million Pictures of My Face and Still I Have No Idea

Feb 26 – May 29, 2022
Grüzenstrasse 44-45, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland

Frida Orupabo’s splintered photographs and photo collages tell stories about race, sexuality, violence, and postcolonial identity. Orupabo is Norwegian-Nigerian, born in 1986 in Sarpsborg, in Southern Norway. Since her youth, she has pored over images of black female bodies, trying to understand a long history of stereotypes. When making her own work, Orupabo often draws from her extensive photo collection, as well as early cinema stills and news media; she then dismembers the images, using layering and convergence to create new narratives. These collages, as well as sculptural works and videos, are on view at FotoMuseum. All explode the process of objectification, and all are unsettling. —Elena Clavarino

Frida Orupabo, “Batwoman,” 2021 © Frida Orupabo and Galerie Nordenhake Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City.