Deborah Segun
Letting Yourself Be

The Breeder is pleased to present ‘Letting Yourself Be’ by Nigerian artist Deborah Segun, her second solo exhibition at the gallery.

The importance of girlhood and womanhood is central in Segun’s practice, allowing her to deftly comment on avenues of visual and societal constructions. There is a stillness that pervades most of Segun’s work, but this serenity is far from being a sign of weakness. The bodies, characterised by a tranquillity that cannot be disturbed, assert themselves in a self-assured manner. In a world where many women are told to take less space and make themselves smaller, Segun’s work boldly recentres the female experience. The artist reminds us of the reality of the harmonious complexities of being a woman, as shown through the meandering interlaced colourful planes.

Segun reworks this process of visual judgements as her works are founded on the importance of perception and condense actions of both unveiling and concealing into one. The tension alluded to by these serpentine gestures add to the energy that Segun imbues her compositions by oscillating from vibrant to soft tones. She has previously stressed the importance of choosing what colours to use when beginning a new work. Therefore, the colour palette that the artist uses is at once contrasting, yet also soft, guiding the viewer’s eye through and around composition as through a labyrinth.

These new paintings aim to articulate the experience of living within a plus-sized body. Society is structured by visual judgements, and they are often a determinant of how one is treated. If a body doesn’t fall within the boundaries of what society considers to be the right ones, it can be alienated and othered. With this alienation comes a gendered cloak of shame which is imposed on plus-sized women no matter their age. To counteract this, the artist is not only thinking about the realities of being a woman, but a woman in community with others. Community fosters inter-personal relationships founded on a reciprocal dynamism allowing people to open up to dialogue and encouraging the creation of an inextricably authentic sense of self.

Segun’s works are not only labyrinthine in their structure, but they also present a complex network of emotions, swaying from fear and sadness to comfort and joy.  Although her medium of choice is painting, her work adopts an almost sculptural nature where fluid limbs overlap one another. Figures seem to fall into each other’s, or their own, embrace. The works become raw and intimate portrayals of feelings that encapsulate our shared humanity. The figures evade a Western critical gaze due to these complex portrayal of emotions and condensation of symbolic meaning. Their bodies transcend a simple pictorial nature. They seem to at once envelop their environment and be enveloped by it, as they find protection in the feeling of togetherness and community that underpins much of Segun’s practice.

Deborah Segun (b. 1994, Nigeria) lives and works in London. She obtained a degree in Fashion Design at the Polimoda Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing, Florence, in 2017. Segun has previously exhibited at The Breeder in her first solo show at the gallery ’You Keep Going Through It, I’m Just Coming Back From’ (2022). Other solo exhibitions include: ‘Where Is My Mind’, BEERS, London (2023), ‘How To Fall In Love’, BEERS, London (2021), ‘Being Free’, SMO Contemporary Art Gallery, Lagos (2020). Segun’s work is included in the collection of X Museum, Beijing and Xiao Museum, Rhizhao.