On the last day of New York Fashion Week, Head of State designer Taofeek Abijako forwent a traditional runway show in favor of an art-slash-fashion exhibition, held downtown at the Strada Gallery. Curated by friend and creative multi-hyphenate Diallo Simon-Ponte, the space featured new designs from Abijako, as well as striking works by artists from the African diaspora such as Cameron Granger, Nola Ayoola, Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, Isabel Okoro, and Lewinale Havette.
Marrying new clothing pieces with surrounding artworks, Abijako and Simon-Ponte landed on the title “Home as Corpus,” with the exhibition aiming to explore “the body as a location of home.” Through fashion, photography, paintings, and more, the duo wanted to share how we often turn to physical bodies for the presence of our homelands. “I really wanted the audience to have a slow-down moment, and to take in what goes behind the collection,” said Abijako. “Growing up in Nigeria, then coming to America, I brought a level of home with me; I didn’t physically bring it with me, but through my body.”
In the center of the space, Abijako’s three new dress designs exemplified this. The formal dresses were all red, to symbolize the blood that flows inside all of us, and travels with us. “Home is within you, too,” Abijako said of the connection. A satiny, above-the-knee cocktail dress featured a fanned bodice and tulle underlay; there was also a longer-floor length version with a full skirt. The nylon sleeveless shirt dress, meanwhile, featured a tent-like skirt that represented another element of Abijako’s home country of Nigeria. “It references the open-air markets in Lagos, where there are all these umbrellas,” he said. “People are there making a living for their family, and this represents that.”
It was a thoughtful nod to Abijako’s home, and a continuation of his past few collections, which have also toyed with the idea of connecting his Nigerian roots with his life in America. In a corner of the exhibition, Abijako also debuted a collaboration pair of sneakers made with Nike; they were black and blue, and covered in a cowrie shell print. It was inspired by a memory of his dad, and a story of him trying to find a sense of home. “When he was trying to go from Nigeria to Spain, the only money he had was hidden in his shoe,” said Abijako.
Like the clothes, the surrounding artworks, curated by Simon-Ponte, also toyed with the same tension between bodies and homelands. “They’re all artists that I just love and admire, and they all made sense for the show,” said Simon-Ponte of the works on display. “Everyone spoke to the idea of the home as corpus very differently.” A painting by Ajayi titled “Was It Worth It?” for instance, featured a distorted family portrait that held a deeper meaning. It represents “a memory and nostalgia related to where we have come from,” said Simon-Ponte. “You see the family unit, and memories fading into the background; you also see two solitary figures representing a sense of isolation.”
Both the curator and Abijako said their main hope for the exhibition, which will be on view until September 15, is that it will ignite a sense of introspection in the audience—and, hopefully, a sense of belonging. “[I hope people] feel that they’re enough—that we can carry the torch of our homelands and identities with us, no matter what we’ve been told,” said Simon-Ponte. “Where we come from is right within our bodies.”
