Toyin Odutola Quotations

For a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not.

I dont think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.

I needed to create something I could take with me wherever I went.

I moved around a lot when I was a child; two of the houses I grew up in have totally disappeared. One was burnt in a riot, and the other was pulled down.

I kept wanting to push my image as validity; I wanted to see my portrait on a wall and know it was okay.

I've always felt the portrait is an occasion for marks to happen. I've never viewed the portrait as about the sitter. Even when I go to the National Portrait Gallery, I'm not thinking about the sitter; I'm thinking about how the artist chose that color or that highlight. It becomes about the time, place, and context.

The graphic style itself is influenced by a lot of very layered and detailed comics that I read as a kid, like Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue.

Being a black artist, the first thing people want to talk about is your blackness, the importance of your blackness, and your black presence.

When I was in school, I conceptually didn't want black people to have context, to take it out of all that history. I wanted nothing to indicate where they are or what time it is, to place them anywhere.

I don't think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.