News
Opening Aug 19, 2022 at Park Life - Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh
July 25th, 2022
Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh
Third Culture Kid
August 19th – Sept 25rd, 2022
Opening Reception Friday August 19th 6-8 pm
Park Life Gallery
San Francisco
Park Life is proud to present Third Culture Kid, new work by Oakland-based artist Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh.
The term “Third Culture Kid” was first coined in the 1950’s to describe the expatriate children of diplomats who created their own culture from a blend of their birth country, the culture of their parents, and the culture in which they currently lived. They simultaneously belonged to each and to none, but what does it mean to belong to a place?
As I explore my place in the African Diaspora as a person apart from my ancestral culture who lives in another more Eurocentric one, I often think about perception, history and integration, both in the face of the dominant culture and on a personal level within myself. I think about the fact that within 1 generation, I have lost the language of my grandparents as well as their culture, food, names and faces.
As a body of work Third Culture Kid explores visual stories from West African history and the African diaspora from a deeply personal lens. I am inspired by the colorful patterns of Dutch wax fabric and Yoruba indigo dyeing, and I incorporated images and scenes from my daily life – flowers, birds, insects and even stray thoughts into the block printed patterns created for these paintings. The history of colonization, displacement and resource theft from the African continent and its global impact on its people, and particularly my family, figure into my thinking around the creation of each piece. For me, the idea of belonging is a constantly shifting idea. Every day I create the record of my new third culture, a blend of old and new.
Artist Bio
Dawline-Jane Oni-Eseleh (she/her) is a first-generation Afro-Caribbean visual artist and arts educator who lives and works on Ohlone land (Oakland, CA). Her work explores memory, history, and personal narratives.
A New York native, Ms. Oni-Eseleh attended The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and has exhibited her work in spaces across the United States and internationally. Her illustration work has been featured in The LA Times, ProPublica and Teen Vogue.