Tobi Onabolu

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Tobi Onabolu

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      • Àlááfíà Ni
      • Dear Black Child
      • Babouche!
      • An Ode to Hxr Excellence
      • Afropresentism
      • Blxck Enough
      • Black, British + Proud
      • #MyLoveIsBlackLove
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  • Home
  • About
  • Projects
    • Àlááfíà Ni
    • Dear Black Child
    • Babouche!
    • An Ode to Hxr Excellence
    • Afropresentism
    • Blxck Enough
    • Black, British + Proud
    • #MyLoveIsBlackLove
  • Writing
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Blxck Enough (2018)

    CCTV sees me and finds a Black boy thriving


    Even under the weight of a cold white gaze

    As consciousness doubles 

    The boxes built to contain me are just lines

    A fiction drawn around an idea of me when the reality is too complex for borders


    See, there’s far too much of me

    Too many scraps and rags, passed down and picked up, carefully stitched together

    To make me small

    To fit neatly within their structures


    Instead, I’ll take this city as my inheritance

    Every brick laid, raw material

    Building blocks set aside

    For the construction of me


    These streets are just stages lined with props 

    And me, a character and an author

    Playing complex parts along tarmac boards 

    Defying expectation with every performance 


    I step back to take it in

    I am my greatest creation

    A masterpiece

    A celebration of multitudes  

    A welcome song for a place where I don’t have to explain myself


    An ode to Jacks who refused the box


    Blxck Enough explores the multifaceted nature of young Black males in London and beyond through fashion, photography, and spoken word. Operating as a lens of the societal gaze, the photo-series follows a young Black male navigating his way through London. The skateboard as his vehicle of transport, the series interrogates both the physical and metaphorical idea of navigating and negotiating identity.


    With false perceptions and toxic stigma attached to Black British males, notions of what it is to be a Black mxn in Britain are often restrictive and presented as a monolith. Blxck Enough aims to liberate the identity, normalising the so-called oddities, and celebrating the multifaceted nature of young Black males, in doing so debunking unhelpful myths, and stagnant stereotypes. 


    The multiplicity of the Black male identity is elevated through styling incorporating white tie tails, ankara print trousers, a headband, and sunglasses with a pearl chain. The styling aims to confront attempts to essentialise the Black male identity, and conversely champion the many ways in which identity can be expressed.


    Creative Direction: Tobi Onabolu & Brogues Cozens-McNeelance

    Photography: Agatha Powa

    Spoken Word: Folarin Akinmade

    Model: Ethan Richards

    Copyright © 2023 Tobi Onabolu - All Rights Reserved.

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