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© Fatou Ridgird

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Fatou Ridgird

Newark, New Jersey

Artist Statement

Since I do not remember most of my childhood, in the struggle to make sense of my life, my solitude has thrown my ego in the ring with my spiritual journey. I’m always searching for things that contribute towards my ever evolving self identity in the comfort zones of specific documentation, arbitrary linkages, and fantastic imagined lands. This has become the basis of my art.

I find myself substituting the indefinite history of myself for something tangible and concrete, noticing that most of the answers exist within nature. In the permeation of sunlight onto greenery I see a hopeful self portrait. In the reflective puddle imitating the sky, I come across reminders of the opportunity and vastness of this plane.
Within my recent works resides an exaggeration of being present within the noise, with sustained themes including acknowledgment of foundations like the body, looking to nature for wisdom and extreme depictions of rest. I meditate on the concept of ‘grounding’ which is a familiar term used when describing processes one can take to balance their physical, emotional and mental state with hopes to reconnect more with themselves.

Using skewed mechanisms of pointillism in paintings to connect back to the freckles on my skin, every painting ensues an autobiographical element larger than a signature. Using pictures I take and find in my human experience to finesse and create different compositions relates to the possibilities we humans can conjure up.
The constant of nature inspires the consistency of my work which all become mirrored projections of me that will continue to grow with time. It is my aim that viewers will also see their own struggles with self-understanding in my work.

© Fatou Ridgird

Fatou Ridgird's Portfolio

© Fatou Ridgird

Artist Biography

Fatou /fa·2/ is an artist who grew up in Newark NJ and now works in New York. With the basis of her life experiences being the product of each piece, she challenges herself to make tangible the seemingly mundane and overlooked. She aims to understand the gift of life expressed through the many mediums of art, and by doing so, hopefully furthers your understanding that nothing is ever singular or existing on its own: Everything is connected— whether it's the atoms that bump into each other, or the pixels intermixing on your screen, everything is formulated with something else to create a bigger picture. This understanding is prevalent in her work, not failing to showcase the relationship we all share amongst one another.

Everything in this life is a projection of you.
Every opinion you raise is a projection of you.
If everything in this world is mirroring one another how can they come back again to become an art piece?

Fatou’s artworks are all mirrored projections of her, opinions of her, and collages of herself— expressed through a multitude of mediums that will continue to grow with time.

Fatou holds a BFA from The School of Visual Arts.

fatouridgird.com

@faaa2oouu

© Fatou Ridgird

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