Frida Orupabo Norway

All images ©Frida Orupabo. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg Photography by Mario Todeschini
All images ©Frida Orupabo. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg Photography by Mario Todeschini

Norwegian-Nigerian artist Frida Orupabo creates digital and physical collages that challenge dehumanizing depictions of Black people—the type of work she wishes she’d seen growing up as one of the only Black people in her family. Frida collects and combines old photos of Black women (many of which are taken from colonial archives) into new images that subvert the white gaze and empower their subjects. Frida has exhibited her work in Oslo, Berlin, New York, and Johannesburg, among other cities. But Frida hadn’t always intended to become an artist: A trained sociologist, she originally worked and made art in her spare time.