Caroline Chinakwe

Caroline Chinakwe, is a Nigerian-born, London-based, mixed media artist. Graduating from The University of Arts London, LCF she started her career as a garment technologist, working for designers and high street brands. Caroline then began freelance work as a fashion designer and stylist. She is widely known for her striking visuals, using bright colours as a symbol of power, celebrating gender and blackness, drawing on the beauty of both. She looks to confront social injustice through her bold unapologetic imagery. Caroline’s new collection 'Colourism' available here at IIF Gallery was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and social injustice protests of 2020 and looks at the issue of colour, and the privilege that comes with for a lighter skin tone within the black community. After 20 years experience working in the fashion industry, Caroline began to develop her career into art design and wanted to make it her mission to acknowledge the lack of diversity for black models in fashion, and how they were styled and depicted in mainstream media. As a mother of 3, Caroline wanted to create art that would inspire and empower her children and their next generation. Caroline possesses an abundance of natural creative abilities, her experience as a stylist and designer, working with models, photographers, clothing and accessories, all of which have been brought together and channelled into her works. Using a combination of various artistic mediums including photography, acrylic painted details, and digital collaging, Caroline’s style is unique, and pushes the boundaries of various techniques, combination of textures and exquisite but deliberate imperfect touches. Using her fashion and stylist background her prints wear a combination of contemporary fashion and traditional culturally accurate clothing and accessories. Caroline’s art series has been highly acclaimed by industry influencers including Christene Barberich, co-founder of Refinery29, and Hannah O’Leary, Head of Modern & Contemporary African Art at Sotheby’s and neo soul music icon Erykah Badu. ‘’I want my work to have a positive impact and start conversations about the beauty in the diversity of our black skin and the many beautiful shades it comes in.’’