(upbeat music)
- Being raised by women taught me that
I don't need men in my life
and I don't need them to tell me what to do.
I felt that I needed to show women like that in my work,
and just show positive visual representation of Black women.
But then also making it known
that it's just my part of the bigger narrative,
because there's so many different narratives
and ways to be Black.
This is just my story.
My name's Jamilla Okubo,
and I'm a mixed-media artist, illustrator,
and surface pattern designer.
(upbeat music)
This is an affordable sharing studio space.
I basically share my actual studio space with one artist
and then we have a bunch of studio neighbors inside, so.
I was in sixth grade when I really
knew that I wanted to take art seriously.
I was raised in DC.
My dad, he's Kenyan, Trinidadian.
My mom and dad got divorced when I was really young.
My dad, he was here for a little while in the States,
but then he moved back to Kenya and started a life there.
And then the first time that I got to hang out with him
I think I was like thirteen,
and I think he just wanted to make an impression on me.
And so he showed up to my mom's house
and he had on some sort of Masai warrior fabric,
and me being a teenager,
I was just like, "No. You have to go home and change,
"'cause I'm not going to the mall with you like that."
I became more curious about
my dad's side of the family and culture.
Really, just I really wanted to know more in high school.
I would say it was when I transferred to Duke Ellington,
that's an arts school in DC,
and that was my first introduction to contemporary Black art
and I was like, oh, I can make art that's about me,
or like, about where I'm from, or if I wanna say something.
So I started to reach out to my uncle,
and I was like, can you, tell me more about Congo fabrics?
And then he sent me some.
And then I just got bold and added my dad on Facebook
and started asking him a lot of questions
about the culture and stuff like that.
(peaceful music)
In July last summer, I went to Kenya for the first time
to spend time with my dad and meet my relatives,
and other siblings.
(foreign language)
It was just a really exciting and emotional trip,
because it's like they all knew who I am
and it's like they welcomed me
like it was a welcome back home.
(singing in foreign language)
When I came back I felt connected
to my father's side of the family
and just to Kenya in general.
I started wanting to use the format of a Congo fabric
as a platform to weave in the stories
of my cultural narrative,
where my mom and my grandmother come from,
with also where my dad's side of the family comes from.
It's crazy to be back home,
and this is the neighborhood that I grew up in.
Like I grew up in my grandma's house.
And now it's like, she's able to see
everything that I've accomplished.
Hi Grandma!
- [Grandma] Hello.
- [Jamilla] How are you?
- [Grandma] I'm okay.
- All of my works from college.
And we just put them up on the fences in the backyard
and had like a mini-showing of my work.
It was cool.
See, that's me in the corner cheesing really hard.
Oh my God.
So funny!
Then I also saw the strength in some of the things
that I learned about where my family came from.
For example, like, my grandmother.
She would always tell me about stories
of her growing up picking cotton.
To see where I am now at this age, and where she came from,
it's like a big deal, and it's something
that I take with me wherever.
My mom, she was a single mom and she raised me
and then also had my brother and sister.
When I grew up with my mom,
she was in a domestic violence relationship.
So I used to see a lot of violence growing up.
Even through all of what we went through,
she still made sure to nurture what I wanted to pursue.
And I think that even fueled the fire more
for me to represent strong Black women.
I have a lot of respect for my mom and my grandmother
and the sacrifices that they've went through,
and I know a lot of other women
who also have gone through so much.
Even all over the world.
I think it's just really important to push that narrative.
- A lot of hard work.
It's gonna, you know, it's paid off.
You know, all the hard work, and all the sacrificing.
We couldn't have done it, of course, without my mom.
She was a huge help.
She spoiled Jamilla rotten.
(Jamilla laughing)
So she got her started on the fashion tip early.
And I supplied her with all the art
and the education aspects.
So we was a team, of the team effort.
- When she was tiny, you know,
she was just like a little,
I don't know, a butterfly, just going everywhere
and doing everything, you know.
And we just hit it off really good.
(peaceful music)
Since I had moved back I was slowly working
on building, working, creating,
and getting all of these different opportunities.
So to have finally secured my first solo exhibition
back home as like my first one,
it's just really an honor.
(crowd chattering)
Hi, good, how are you?
Thanks for coming!
I've been focusing a lot on African proverbs
and African-American folk tales.
A lot of people don't know that I'm the artist
'cause I'm really young, and so.
I'm just like, "Oh you're the artist!"
I've always dreamed of having my works,
in a gallery or in a space like this,
but I don't think I ever thought about
what I wanted from that.
Except of course representation
and being able to tell my own story.
So seeing people, strangers, just take it in, it's like, me.
Especially for my grandmother to be here.
'Cause a lot of the works,
especially with my earlier works, were inspired by her
and stories that she has told.
Thank you for coming Grandma!
With art specifically, which I've learned,
no matter what kind of day you're having,
whether it's bad or good keep making work.