NYWIFT Blog

By Paige Hapeman

Welcome to our new NYWIFT member, Chiemeka Offor!

Chiemeka Offor is an NYC-based Nigerian-American interdisciplinary artist, image maker, and director currently focusing on editorial photography and poetic short films. Her artwork has been featured in Cultured, i-D, Vogue Italia, Women’s Wear Daily, Buzzfeed Photo, Frieze, and Office Magazine. Chiemeka has received National recognition as a Grand Prize Winner in the Smithsonian Teen Portrait Competition for her portrait “Showtime”, and a 2020 National Young Arts Foundation Award in Photography.

In the spring of 2023, she joined the 2023 Voice X PhotoVogue NFT Residency and is currently pursuing a major in Film and Television at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she continues to construct visual and sensory worlds of inclusion through her intersectional and community-driven work.

Continue to read more about Chiemeka and how she hopes to mesh the two worlds of fashion photography and visual activism in her career.

NYWIFT Member Chiemeka Offor (photo courtesy of Chiemeka Offor)

Tell us about yourself and your journey to becoming an artist!

From a young age, my creative journey has been rooted in the stories most personal to me – the experiences, beauty, and strengths of women of the African Diaspora. When I was 14, I joined my middle school yearbook as a photojournalist. I used the small digital camera they gave me to document my family at home and even sneaked it with me on my trip to Nigeria that summer. I used photography as a tool, as evidence of all the beauty of my culture. I wanted to come back to Los Angeles and show my friends what Nigeria looked like from my perspective, not what the media portrayed.

I began to draw the images I captured and fell in love with art through painting. I found it was imperative for me to visually communicate the way I see the world because I didn’t see enough people who looked like me in spaces that I wanted to enter. Representation has always been at the center of my practice. 

Today, as an interdisciplinary artist, image maker, and director, my work celebrates the Black female figure, capturing the different forms we use to define ourselves. We are not a monolith or a token. I want young Black women to see themselves in my work and know they are deserving of taking up space in their lives and the world. By using dramatic elements of light, color, distortion, and texture, I blend the worlds of fine art, visual activism, and documentary. Ultimately, my artistic journey is a testament to the power of storytelling as a tool for connection, transformation, and hope in these dark times.

Chiemeka behind the camera during a photoshoot (photo courtesy of Chiemeka Offor)

What led you to join NYWIFT?

It was actually by surprise! I received the Outstanding Women Content Creator award at the Nova Frontier Arts Festival in July and was introduced to NYWIFT through that. I’m incredibly honored to have been recognized for the award and excited for all the possibilities this next year will hold with this incredible community.

Chiemeka at the New York African Film Festival with her film Black Dreams (photo courtesy of Chiemeka Offor)

You recently made your directorial debut at the New York African Film Festival this year with your documentary Black Dreams. Congratulations! How was this experience?

Thank you! It was an incredibly surreal experience. Every step of this filmmaking journey as an emerging director has been filled with love. Before I entered the world of film, I was more accustomed to creating on my own or with smaller groups, as painting and primarily working as a self-portrait photographer can be quite individual practices.

Film has taught me the power and beauty of community at every stage of the process. My premiere was filled with the love of everyone who made the film with me, and it introduced me to even more people who felt seen and moved by it. It was deeply emotional to witness people’s reactions in real-time and have conversations that continue to connect and inspire us. I am also honored to have shared my premiere with such a talented and diverse group of filmmakers. It was a magical experience and a confirmation that I am excited for what the future holds in this new chapter.

Chiemeka and the team from Black Dreams at the New York African Film Festival (photo courtesy of Chiemeka Offor)

You joined the Converse All-Stars Team in 2020 to collaborate with other young artists striving to break barriers in their communities. What has been the most interesting element of being a part of this team?

Converse offers us a lot of opportunities to connect with one another. Since I joined the team during the pandemic, I am especially grateful for the ways we’ve been able to meet in person since then. Whether in Los Angeles or New York, I’ve found collaborators who have become friends — people I will continue to create and connect with for years to come.

I’m also incredibly thankful that the All-Stars Projects program helped make Black Dreams a reality!

Chiemeka on location behind the camera (photo courtesy of Chiemeka Offor)

You are currently studying Film and Television at NYU. How has attending this University been so far, and what are you most looking forward to this upcoming year?

It has been such a gift to be learning and working with so many artists that I am inspired by every day. I look forward to being super intentional. I have made the most out of every moment thus far and I will continue to do so! Just a little bit extra this year, as I will be graduating in the spring.

Chiemeka on set (photo courtesy of Chiemeka Offor)

Where do you hope your artistic journey leads you in the future?

As a multidisciplinary artist, it’s hard to pinpoint just one goal for where I see myself in five years. I’m a painter turned photographer turned filmmaker, and I embrace all these identities in the work I create.

After graduating, I look forward to returning to Nigeria to build, connect, and amplify the narratives of women across the African diaspora. I envision establishing a production company or a Black women’s art collective, where we collaborate on projects while also nurturing our individual endeavors and supporting one another. I plan to travel and craft these narratives in places that are most significant to me and my identity: Los Angeles, New York, Paris, and Nigeria.

Ultimately, by year five, I hope to settle in one of these places and solidify my production company and collective. Since I’m relatively new to filmmaking, I aim to direct my first feature film within the next five years, while continuing to nurture the other aspects of my creative work, community practices, and events, through artist residencies, exhibitions, and more.

Follow Chiemeka Offor on Instagram, and keep up with her through her website.