A Looming Memory

Abi Salami is a self-taught artist who creates large-scale surrealist works that explore her experiences as a Nigerian immigrant and Black woman in the United States. Through the use of a personal visual lexicon made up of symbols, she explores topics such as sexuality, mental health and race.

She earned a Masters in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and worked in Corporate America for almost a decade before committing to painting full-time.

Since then, Salami’s artwork has graced the walls of esteemed institutions such as Montresso Art Foundation in Morocco, and Galerie Droste in Germany, C24 Gallery and Field Projects in New York City, Rele Gallery in Los Angeles and the Women’s Museum, the African American Museum of Art in Dallas, and Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas.

She was the winner of the 2021 Hopper Prize. She was selected as a candidate of the Saatchi Art 2020 Rising Stars under 35 Class and a 2021 New Voices Top 100 Artists. She and her work have been featured on the Washington Post, New York Times, Artland, Artsy, D Magazine, Glasstire and Patron Magazine.

 Salami lives and works in Dallas, Texas.

In the Artist’s Words:

“A Looming Memory was born as a reaction to Roe vs Wade being overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2022. As a woman and an artist, my initial reaction was to use my work to express my anger and frustration, but overtime I started to feel a piercing numbness. During my younger years living in Nigeria, I always thought that the US was this amazing place where things worked and justice prevailed, in contrast to Nigeria which seemed riddled with infrastructural issues and deep-seated corruption. So, to see Roe v Wade overturned felt like the land beneath me had evaporated and I was in a free fall.

“In response, I absconded into my imagination and memory. I thought of the Maenads, the so-called wild women of the Greek god Dionysus. For ancient Greeks, the Maenads represented the danger of women left unchaperoned by male authority, but their defiant personality has made them subjects of interest for artist and sculptors through out the ages. However, most of these artists have been male (the male gaze has entered the chat). With all the emotions I was feeling at the time, it seemed fitting to give these women a different context, a female gaze. I reimagined them as strong confident women, who do what is necessary to maintain their freedom, both politically and sexually. I wanted the piece to be unabashedly feminine yet strong. Balancing the two in the piece was definitely a challenge.”

“Also at that time, I was struggling with wanting to be freer in my artistic process. Prior to this piece, I would have every last detail drawn out on my iPad before I moved to the canvas. For this piece, I only drew out the poses of the women and the general layout, but for the details, I decided to challenge myself to figure it out as I was painting. It was one of the most unnerving experiences I had in my Dallas art studio. It took me twice as long to finish it because I kept doubting myself. I love looking at this piece now, because I am proud of myself for just trying to break free. Once I moved to New York a few months later, this piece would be the foundation I needed to truly break away from the iPad and trust in myself and my ability to not only paint but execute.”