#EverlynNicodemus

Self-Portrait, (1982)

Painted in Åkersberga, Sweden (a suburb of Stockholm), this self-portrait by Tanzanian artist Everlyn Nicodemus renders identity as a chorus rather than a single note. The artist fuses modernist flat color with emblematic masks to picture the overlapping roles she inhabited as a Black woman, artist, migrant, mother, and partner in early-1980s Scandinavia. The canvas layers four aspects of a single woman’s face into one composite head, rising from right to left against a striated green-brown background. The lowest visage with medium-brown skin, wide white eyes, and soft red mouth tilts left in three-quarter view. Above it, a warm umber profile with arched brows and red lips bisects the composition. Flanking these, two mask-like faces—one darker black with cream-striped eyes and a gold crown of hair, the other black, green, and blue with a graphic grin seem to press in from the edges, accented by cobalt and crimson ovals. Features interlock like cut paper, edges crisp and flat, with no horizon or body to anchor them with only a suggestion of neck and patterned shoulder. The effect is calm yet charged for an intimate and insistently multifaceted self-portrait. The stacked heads refuse a fixed gaze, acknowledging vigilance and self-protection in societies marked by racism and sexism. “I exhibited myself as a subject, showing every part of myself… It was a form of psychological survival,” she has said. In this self-depiction it is visible in layered selves that are vulnerable, witty, guarded, and resolute at once. Acquired by the British National Portrait Gallery in 2022, the work marks the first painted self-portrait by a Black female artist in its collection, expanding who is seen in Britain’s portrait canon. The crisp contours, saturated primaries, and wood-grain field intensify that declaration: a life assembled, unmasked, and held together by will.

"Självporträtt, Åkersberga (Self-portrait, Akersberga)" by Everlyn Nicodemus (Tanzanian) - Oil on canvas / 1982 - National Portrait Gallery (London, UK) #WomenInArt #WomenArtists #WomensArt #artText #BlueskyArt #TanzanianArt #TanzanianArtist #EverlynNicodemus #Nicodemus #NPG #NationalPortraitGallery

Then I’d put your pieces back together /And I’d promise you that next time /We’d float higher, float faster, float further, and never return
🎨 #EverlynNicodemus 🇹🇿 🎟️ #ModernOne 💻Review www.theskinny.co.uk/art/reviews/... ℹ️ www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/e... 🌇 #Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

First chance to see Everlyn Nicodemus at NGS Modern 1, Edinburgh. It’s both thoughtprovoking and a visual feast. Excellent film on the artist at the end of the exhibition. I’ll be back. #art #nationalgalleryofscotland #edinburgh #modernart #africanart #everlynnicodemus