Deborah Segun
You keep going through it, I'm just coming back from it

The Breeder is pleased to present Deborah Segun’s new solo exhibition, You Keep Going Through It, I’m Just Coming Back From It.

Firmly rooted in her personal experiences, Deborah Segun’s work celebrates the diverse bodies of women through shape and color, portraiture and narrative, creating an important counter-point to both art historical and contemporary depictions of the female form. Her canvases are populated by the figures of voluptuous black women in varied graceful poses. Segun ultimately explores portraiture from a place of body sensitivity, shaping narratives around the power of vulnerability as a birthplace of joy, belonging, creativity and authenticity.

Segun continues here her exploration of the idea of personal growth and the constant changes that we go through. Taking as a starting point the transition from childhood to womanhood as a universal and personal experience, Segun explores the subtle anxiety that comes with change. This new body of work focuses on the idea of trusting the constant process and leaning into change as it comes. The paintings depict a sense of intimacy in a way of understanding one’s self and allowing oneself to be present in an attempt to mend the relationship between past and present self. There is also a feeling of calmness and trust both in the expression and body language, in the way that the subjects are supporting each other, the slight co-dependency that almost creates a feeling that one can’t fully function without the other.

Deborah Segun (b. 1994, Nigeria) lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria. She obtained a degree in Fashion Design at the Polimoda Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing in Florence, Italy in 2017. Solo exhibitions include: ‘How To Fall In Love’, BEERS London, (2021); ‘Being Free’, SMO Contemporary Art Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2020); ‘Play as Collective’, AWCA, ArtxLagos Art Fair, Lagos, Nigeria (2019); ‘Still Life’ Art Oja, Lagos, Nigeria (2019); ‘I Feel Like I Am’, Relate Africa, Lagos, Nigeria, (2019). Segun’s work is included in the collection of X Museum in Beijing and Xiao Museum in Rhizhao, China.