Jasmine Osegbu

Paradise is an immersive installation incorporating painting, animation and print. The multi-elemental piece reflects the journey of the fictional Black female protagonist, Esidara, through five forms of ‘paradise’. An empty white void of clarity, an escapist island, an infinite hedonistic festival, a village of ancestral connection and finally; a reflection of Heaven. It is the culmination of my research thesis, Reimagining Reality: Black Experiences through Worldbuilding and Fictioning. Throughout my research, I found a recurrent motif of longing for a utopia or paradise throughout Black speculative worlds across literature, film, music and visual art. I aimed to contemplate this, influenced by an Afrofemcentric, British-Nigerian lens. Rather than strive for a definitive conclusion, the piece invites speculation on what paradise might be.

My research delves into how Worldbuilding and Fictioning serve as mediums for exploring Black experiences. Examining the works of creators including Octavia Butler and Sun Ra, I focused particularly on lived experiences of Black individuals which have been reimagined through new worlds and fictions. The writings of Jayna Brown and Édouard Glissant informed my approach in studying the methodology and implications of reimagining Black experiences through Worldbuilding and Fictioning.