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mnca oklo

@mncaoklo

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@godetlondon with @twilight_contemporary until 7 nov
merging —— experimenting ————- —-> @monicaokello

POSTS STORIES REELS

“You don’t need to have credentials and you don’t need to go to university to be an artist or a painter.”

excerpt from a longer train of thought i had last week, recorded, transcribed and then edited. will defo be sharing more as the thought takes a different turn which feels relevant to my paintings

could talk about this forever. if you make things, you’re an #artist. if you collect things, you’re an #archivist. and tbh, there’s also no need to put a label on anything. you can also just be a person who likes to make things and collect things too by @mncaoklo

photo reference (w tracing paper on top) for a painting that i’m showing at @godetlondon with @twilight_contemporary, opening next thursday <3 taken by my mama by @mncaoklo

the quality on this is pretty low but i promise its semi-intentional. i did this test back in nov 2024 (insane, i know). there’s about 10 frames in this, one of which you’ll see if you scroll to the second slide. i printed the image on white thin paper and then with my scanner open, i shone a light at different points of it whilst scanning. pretty happy with the outcome. i wanted it to look like i was interrogating the image. initially the project was gonna be called ‘interrogating the archive’, but as it’s evolved in the past year, it’s now called ‘mama’s archive’. i have some audio somewhere of my mum talking about this photo, ill prob post a reel (gross) with that audio over it sometime soon. 3rd slide is the original photo reprinted w a blue hue (unintentional) #archive #czechoslovakia #blackarchives #histories #memory by @mncaoklo

looking back into my mama’s archive and i’ve been thinking about sharing this photo for while, along with some music she said she was listening to at the time

pictured: my mama (right), Noel (middle), and Edna (left)
photographer: Unknown, TBC (hopefully)
place: Jarov, #Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia)
time: sometime in 1988

1. print test close up (tracing paper)
2. original photo
3. screenshot from glitching InDesign
4. black on black paper print test
5. tracing paper print test by @mncaoklo

a bunch of random film textures from some aps film 2022/23 ! by @mncaoklo

Bajaji, from february last year

my mother and i were sat in the back of a bajaji, on our way home, reflecting on the few days we’d had together before. i love the way the sun hits him

had the pleasure of showing this photo at @bari.sessions back in june by @mncaoklo

Terrain
Chalk, gouache, oil, and watercolour on concrete

1. @twilight_contemporary back in august 2025
2. at home back in april 2025
3. early thoughts whilst deciding on my caption for the bwoc exhibition at jumbi by @mncaoklo

Aina, 2025
sound by @samyesseghir

Aina exists as part of an investigation, prompted by curiosity and with hopes of bringing light to how stories such as Sara Forbes Bonetta's are often overlooked. The work inspects different areas of the original image, focusing on her hands, her clothes, her posture, and the contextual setting in which she sits – an examination if you will.

photo found in the @vamuseum

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London by @mncaoklo

‘Aina’ references and process pics (2023-2025)

1. Aina (v.2) in Film & TV dept. at Central Saint Martins (November 2023)
2. (detail) The Fruit Market at St. Vincent, Agostino Brunias, 1788
3. ‘Portrait of Sara Forbes Bonetta’, photographed in the Prints & Drawings Study Room during Tyler Mitchell’s V&A Late (October 2022)
4. Sarah Forbes Bonetta, The African Captive, drawing by Frederick E. Forbes, 1851
5. (detail) ‘Aina’, timestamp (roughly) 00:25
6. (detail) Pastoral Interlude, No.1, Ingrid Pollard, 1988
7. Pastoral Interlude, No.1, Ingrid Pollard, 1988
8. notes on draft and open studio (November 2023)
9. see 1.
10. Unit 9 midpoint PDF title page
11. notes on Aina, storyboard
12. screenshot of ‘gaussian blur’ edit in Photoshop
13. screenrecord of scrubbing in Quicktime
14. screenshot of ‘AINA2TV_180225’
15. (detail) Aina (also Ina), known as Sara(h) Forbes Bonetta, photographed by Camille Silvy, 1862
16. ‘Aina’ search in Finder

#aina #sarahforbesbonetta #queenvictoria #references by @mncaoklo

aina v5 @twilight_contemporary
sound @samyesseghir

28 august - 13 september 2025

thank u téa @a____9.o and sam <3 by @mncaoklo

snippet from Aina (V4), with sound

click clacks, shutter, by the best @samyesseghir by @mncaoklo

3. ____

exists as part of an investigation, prompted by curiosity and with hopes of bringing light to how stories such as ____ ______ _______’s are often overlooked.

[ snippet from ____ ]

photo found in the @vamuseum by @mncaoklo