Education
Modupeola Fadugba studied engineering, economics, and education. She has received an MA in Economics from the University of Delaware, and holds an MEd from Harvard University. Her parents were Nigerian Diplomats, and the artist spent most of her youth in England and the United States. She is a self-taught artist. Her series ''Dreams from the Deep End'', which she developed during a residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York, was included in a solo exhibit at Gallery 1957.Career
Her solo shows include ''Heads Up, Keep Swimming'' at Temple Muse in Lagos in 2017, ''Synchronised Swimming & Drownin''g at Ed Cross Fine Art in London in 2017, ''Prayers, Players & Swimmers'' at the''Dreams from the Deep End'' and The Harlem Honeys & Bears
In the summer of 2018, Modupeola Fadugba spent some time with the Harlem Honeys & Bears, while attending a residency program at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York. ''Dreams from the Deep End'' was the resulting painting series and installation, first shown at Gallery 1957 in Accra, Ghana. The Harlem Honeys & Bears is an all black synchronized swim team for senior citizens that meets at the Hansborough Recreation Center in New York City. The team has been in existence since 1979, and as of 2018, had 24 active members with ages ranging from 58 to 95, who met and competed on a regular basis. The painting series based on Fadugba's research with the group, is both personal and tied to identity politics of Black America. Swimming is intertwined with race, and social justice in the US. Research from the CDC shows that drowning among black children is 1.4 times higher than the rate of white children. The rate climbs to a 5.5 times difference when the research considers swimming pool drowning deaths. The disparity is a legacy of segregation in the US, where black communities were denied access to public swimming pools. For the artist, swimming is tied to a childhood fear of the ocean, which she only overcame when she was 11, and was forced to take swimming lessons in school. ''Dreams from the Deep End'' depicts the Harlem Honeys & Bears swimmers in and around the swimming pool. In some of the paintings, the figures remain faceless, and the artist tends to use pastel colors, and her signature burnt technique. In others, she shows the faces of the swimmers on which the paintings are based, sometimes using the burning method, sometimes without. The pool water is usually monochromatic: dark blue, black, or gold, making the swimmers stand out starkly from the background.References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fadugba, Modupeola 1985 births Living people 21st-century Nigerian painters 21st-century Nigerian women painters University of Delaware alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni