“An Ode to Her Excellence”: SOAS Students Celebrate Black Womanism & (Re)imagine Power Structures
In this Black Excellence photography series, Tobi Onabolu and Ethel-Ruth Tawe deploy Black Panther Party aesthetics to subvert the elitism of the British Museum and Bullingdon Club.
“For you are power,
Your radiance infectious.
Womxn of virtue, and resilience,
Greatness is your revolution,
Courage your ally.
Your heroism prevails.
For you are black, resolute, and unapologetically so.
You are excellent. Excellence is yours.”
An Ode to Her Excellence is an unabashed celebration of black womanism and reimaginations, building on a photographic visual archive.
Primarily, our series subverts images of white male hegemony, most notably mocking the notorious Bullingdon Club, an epitome of quintessential British misogyny and elitism. Portraying students from our university, which seemingly positions itself as an antithesis to Oxford stereotypes, An Ode to Her Excellence visually satirises power structures and gives agency to black womxn’s voices and bodies who are too often subjugated and objectified. The chosen location of The British Museum, a monument of Britain’s loot and imperial legacy, stimulates a harsh juxtaposition and call for decolonial reimaginings of physical and non-physical structures of power.
In addition, An Ode to Her Excellence is a feminist revision of mainstream representations of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Misinterpretations of the iconic movement predominantly champion the black men, keeping the works of many womxn revolutionaries in the shadows of patriarchal frameworks. As history reveals —not only for the BPP, but in liberation struggles throughout Africa — black womxn have been inadequately credited despite their integral roles in these movements.
In light of the groundbreaking Marvel blockbuster, Black Panther, in which the black womxn is championed, An Ode to Her Excellence continues this acclamation. It is a visual archive of black womanist excellence, (re)valuing and celebrating everyday forms of resistance in historic and contemporary spaces.
Ultimately, this series seeks to inspire and honour womxn of colour everywhere — not only in our university. It is a display of solidarity in celebration of black girl magic as a form of decolonising institutions that have historically erased and commodified our individualities and achievements.
Special gratitude to the phenomenal womxn of SOAS who took part in the shoot, to whom excellence belongs: Naciza, Keji, Amaal, Mari, Addie, Sarah, Ethel, Sihine, and Marianne.
Creative Direction: Tobi Onabolu (@tobionabolu)
Tobi Onabolu (b. 1993) is a British Nigerian creative who takes particular interest in African cultures, in relation to fashion, music, and art. He currently lives in London where he pursues an MA in African Studies at SOAS University of London.
Photography & Editing: Ethel-Ruth Tawe (@artofetheltawe)
Ethel-Ruth Tawe (b.1994) is a self-taught visual artist with a keen interest in identity politics, alternate realities, nomadic cultures and diasporic experiences. She currently lives between the Netherlands and the UK where she pursues an MSc in Development Studies at SOAS University of London, with a particular interest in African studies.
Written Content: Collaborative
