A Tale of Two Kings (2022) is a collaboration project created by American visual artist, Chris King and Nigerian photographer and
hip-hop artist, Oba Moyosade as they participated in the Louisiana International Residency Program. Early in the collaborative process, the two spent time meeting virtually to discuss their life experiences and shared interests, eager to find a starting point for their work. During the initial conversation, King learned that the name Oba also means "King" in Yoruba, the language of Oba’s Nigerian tribe, so in a way both artists share the same name. The “King” theme serving as a catalyst for their project. For the following ten months the pair exchanged music, digital media, and creative ideas related to their project. Over that time they discovered common themes in their work and that they shared goals as artists, including a passion for storytelling and the belief that art and music can bring about social change.
hip-hop artist, Oba Moyosade as they participated in the Louisiana International Residency Program. Early in the collaborative process, the two spent time meeting virtually to discuss their life experiences and shared interests, eager to find a starting point for their work. During the initial conversation, King learned that the name Oba also means "King" in Yoruba, the language of Oba’s Nigerian tribe, so in a way both artists share the same name. The “King” theme serving as a catalyst for their project. For the following ten months the pair exchanged music, digital media, and creative ideas related to their project. Over that time they discovered common themes in their work and that they shared goals as artists, including a passion for storytelling and the belief that art and music can bring about social change.
Grow & Burn (2022)
As Oba crafted lyrics in Nigeria, King was in his Louisiana studio developing a visual language to support their discoveries. King describes, “A lot of my work has DIY or home improvement qualities, redefining materials that I’m using in other aspects of my life. A shotgun, plywood, and basic electronics for example are all meant to serve a certain purpose, but take on new meaning when they’re used as part of my art vocabulary.” Inspired by the musical aspect of the project, King started with a 12" circle, like that of a record album, as a binding shape in their first pieces. "Grow" and "Burn" are a pair of 19”x 34” musical shadow boxes, displaying a photo by Oba juxtaposed with a wooden shotgun target mounted on a mirror created by King. Each box contains electronic components viewable down the center of the box, creating a crude speaker system that plays the "Grow" and “Burn” audio when a motion detector is triggered by the viewer. King took design inspiration from the way gold records are often displayed on the wall. The exposed wiring is intentional for aesthetic reasons and also to symbolize the artists dependency on technology to keep them connected throughout their long-distant collaboration.
Grow (2022)
Grow, 2022, (19" x 34") Shadow Box with motion detector & speaker. Photo (L) by Oba Moyosade, wood shotgun target mounted on mirror (R)
by Chris King. Original Music by Oba Moyosade, Produced by Black Abgada.
Oba explains, “One of the things that connects Chris and I and birthed our collaboration is our love for hip-hop and the shared meaning of our names ‘King’ and that's what inspired the audio aspect of our project. We decided that using the perspective of a ‘King” to tell personal, relevant stories in the music as well as the visual elements we’d create for the show. The music activates the gallery space with traditional and electronic sounds and texture, transporting viewers on an explosive lyrical journey through the visual components of our work.”
Burn (2022)
Burn, 2022, (19" x 34") Shadow Box with motion detector & speaker. Photo (L) by Oba Moyosade, wood shotgun target mounted on mirror (R)
by Chris King. Original music by Oba Moyosade, Produced by Majiri Ayoma.
Roll Call (2022)
Having never visited each other’s country, the two artists relied on virtual conversations to dismantle myth and gain a better understanding of each other’s culture. “Roll Call” began with Oba’s powerful photos of protestors in Nigeria. Oba comments, “ The protest photos were taken during the End SARS protests that took place all over Nigeria in October 2020. It was a protest against police brutality, extortion and gun violence popularly perpetrated by the SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) division of the Nigerian Police Force. The Nigerian Youth came together with one voice to demand for police reforms and a change in the system. For the first time in a long time there was a feeling of hope amongst the people. The protests came to an abrupt end after the army opened fire on a group of unarmed protesters in Lagos.”
As images and stories were exchanged, King searched for something impactful that supported Oba’s photos while conveying his concern for the current epidemic of police brutality and violence felt across American culture, especially in African American communities. The set of sixteen 12” black and white photos and prints hang from a 7’ x 8’ sculptural wood stand that King designed after a DIY target stand. Together they function as a sculptural installation, titled “Roll Call”, referring to the act of listing the names of a group of people who are notable in a specified way, as a soldier, student, or protester, and also in hip-hop culture, when a person gives shout-outs to a person, their hood, or their crew.
Black Gold (2022)
As their work progressed, King and Oba compared similarities in mythological stories of Kings with themes of power, greed, money, and violence, still found in hip-hop culture today. Through storytelling and sharing details of homelife, the artists realized both countries are suffering from long lasting environmental disasters and rapidly deteriorating coastlines caused primarily by the American oil industry and contemporary world leaders. Inspired by these similarities and recognizing the severity of the problem is worsening in both of their communities, King designed the final piece, “Black Gold”, a sculptural woodcut print, focusing on the territory where each artist is from, Louisiana and Nigeria. The installation includes a 24” x 30” print mounted on plywood, showing two vertical coastlines, Louisiana with stars on the left and Nigeria with diamonds to the right, leaving a large black void down the center. A three-dimensional paper crown is displayed in either side of the print. These paper crowns were made by cutting the print along each coastline and shaping it into the two crowns, representing the origin of each artist. The outside of each crown is printed black & white and the inside is printed gold. King adds, “The crown is a symbolic headgear in many civilizations, often made of jewels and precious metals, representing royalty, wealth, and power, but these paper crowns have very little value, and in a short time will deteriorate to nothing, like a vanishing shoreline left by greedy Kings.”
Over the Edge (2021) A series of mixed-media works by King influenced by his role as an educator for the past twenty-five years and how his work duties and responsibilities have changed while teaching in America during the era of school violence. The pieces are constructed from shattered clay "skeet" shotgun targets mounted on wood panel and painted with neon acrylic and chalkboard paint.
The Drifters Pyramid (2020)
The Pyramid is constructed of gold foil emergency blankets, wood, acrylic paint, nylon cord, zip ties, neon duct tape, steel bucket, gravel, PVC pipe, adhesive hooks, photocopies of ink drawings on colored paper.
The Drifters Pyramid was inspired when Chris King discovered a newspaper report outlining the financial benefits rural prisons receive by housing illegal immigrants over convicted criminals, including the prison in the town where King lives and works. The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that they've opened eight new prison facilities, seven of which are located in Louisiana. Many rural areas with limited opportunities view these prisons as job engines. Louisiana pays local sheriffs $24.39 per day to house those convicted of a crime. By comparison ICE pays $126.52 to house an immigrant detainee, which is five times as much. Rural communities such as these see this as a mounting concern for those who advocate on behalf of immigrants, because detainees in rural areas are facing higher barriers to obtaining a lawyer, are more likely to have their asylum cases denied, and more likely to be deported to their home countries. According to a 2019 NPR Analysis, of the over 55,000 immigrants currently detained, more than 52% are imprisoned in these remote rural prisons, with little or no resources, legal representation, or access to family. King states, "I wanted the piece to resemble a mobile shelter, containing a series of drawings showing vague survival instructions and unclear plans of escape. I also see the 'pyramid' as a temporary monument or marker for those immigrants who are imprisoned just over mile a from my studio in Louisiana."