Chimba

June 2 - 28, 2021

Chiarra Jonelle Hughes Mba - or Chimba - makes the following Artist Statement about Reproducing Life: Conception.

I have been thinking about the journey of Life.  I’ve been thinking about Life in a literal way - from conception to birth through growth and death - and in a figurative way, as it relates to the journey of Life and the journey of an artist.  We start with Conception.  Conceptualize.  Growth.  Expansion.  Continuity.  Continuous.  The Stages of Life.  Trimester.  A Circle.  A Series.  Everything comes full circle.  The cycle is infinite.  Everything does make sense.  

That’s how things manifest when I paint.  I begin to put an image down.  Then another.  My soul knows it is all connected.  I step back or to the side and I see something different.  I see the work intertwining.  I keep going.  I move on to another board and the story blends.  A language forms.  

This body of work - I don’t think it is an accident that it is called a “body” of work - is about reproduction and what it means for the Woman.   We can birth so many things other than a child.  Birth can have a healing effect on the mother and extended family.  Throughout time a birth has been a cause for celebration - more so in the past.  The language I use on my canvases reflects that time.

I paint on wood because wood has a history.  The stories I put on the wood are a history.  A history of Life.  It is an organic relationship between subject and medium.  What I put on canvas is a single figure.  A moment from one woman’s story.  They are the same.

I am curious about the journey of all Women.  Pregnant Women.  Mothers.  Mother Earth.  Queens.  Our roots.  I paint myself.  I am curious about my own journey.  My journey, my artistic journey and my life’s journey, changed as I worked on these paintings.  If you try to make everything as it should be, it won’t become what it can be.  

Chimba was born and raised in Hudson, NY. She studied fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology.