Karen Okpoti is a Ghanaian-British illustrator and animator currently based in London. Her artworks draw upon ideas from myth, lore, esoterica and biblical narratives and how these ideas converge to highlight the stories, behaviours and beliefs guiding different cultures.
On display as part of LORE is The mother, the maiden and the spirit. This is a series of 3 graphite drawings dissecting ideas around motherhood, villains and beasts. These works build upon ideas within lore from West African, Middle Eastern and European traditions.
The characters depicted are similar to creatures within ‘Bestiaries’. They were collections of drawings, short stories and descriptions of real or imaginary animals and creatures with accompanied moral explanations.
Threads and Mothers, explores Karen’s relationship with her own mother. The intimacy shared between the two of them as she would sit on the floor and her mother would braid her hair for hours at a time.
Gello and Melitine and Lilu explore stories within ancient lore describing monsters and virgin ghosts who attacked mothers out of jealousy, as they died before they had a chance to give birth. These monsters were then depicted as the ‘anti-women’ figure. They were created as a way for mothers to cast blame onto a supernatural force for the loss of their children, during times when child mortality was high.
