Yinka Orafidiya

Yinka Orafidiya has been invited to exhibit work at The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts’ annual exhibition and auction, which takes place September 23 - October 7, 2023 in Atlanta, GA. Yinka’s art for social change practice helps to amplify voices of Black American ceramic artists, like herself, whose contributions are systemically marginalized. The Hambidge Center's annual sales auction attracts hundreds of art collectors and curators from across the country. Yinka’s participation in this event contributes a unique craft perspective that is woefully underrepresented, thus furthering her social change agenda of increasing visibility of Black ceramic artists on a national level. The WOO grant will help cover the expense of shipping Yinka’s work to Atlanta, as well as her travel and accommodations to attend the exhibition.

Yinka is a socially-engaged ceramic artist based in Philadelphia. Her artwork is rooted in the desire to promote awareness of our shared humanity, build community, and affect social change. Yinka currently sustains her studio practice at The Allens Lane Art Center where she also teaches and works as the assistant studio technician.

Yinka Orafidiya has been awarded the Window of Opportunity Grant to participate at the annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference, which will take place March 27-30, 2019 in Minneapolis, MN. 

Her involvement will include spearheading a Welcome Gathering during the conference for the incoming 2019 Fellows and alumni, participating on a panel discussion on how effective mentorship can foster the amplification of marginalized voices in institutional spaces, and hosting a networking event for ceramic artists of color at the conference.

Yinka hopes the conference will give her the opportunity to learn new technical skills, gain exposure to exceptional ceramic artworks, and further her development as a creative professional while realizing her goal of the unification and advancement of underrepresented artists through direct outreach to marginalized artists, collaborative discussions with allies, and active networking to influence community building beyond the conference. 

Yinka will exhibit her most recent body of work, Freedom Cups, during the 2018 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. The conference, which runs March 14-17, 2018, will attract an estimated 5,000 ceramic artists, collectors, and curators from around the world.  Entitled FUNK: American Dada, the exhibition will be held at the Manchester Craftmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, PA. She will debut Freedom Cups, her most recent body of work featuring a series of ceramic cups imprinted with Underground Railroad codes. "My vision is to use these cups to incite conversations about the reverberations of slavery and current struggles for freedom. Participation in this exhibition serves as an extension of my social change practice, enabling me to seek community impact through public engagement of my artwork."

Yinka’s attendance at the conference in-person will allow her to make connections with artists and arts institutions in the Pittsburgh area, and seek opportunities for future partnerships and collaborations.

Yinka plans to make hundreds of handmade pottery vessels and decorate their surfaces with thoughts and imagery related to her struggles with depression. Individually each vessel will represent a piece of the puzzle, documenting a small portion of their journey. Together the pieces will tell her story, creating a symbolic journal of their experiences battling depression and form a large scale symbolic sculpture that engages the community. Yinka hopes that the sculpture will incite an open dialogue, raising public consciousness about this issue and providing a sense of solidarity to other people dealing with this disease, letting them know that they are not alone in their struggle. In addition to the pottery, she will facilitate an interactive workshop where participants will produce ceramic art within a framework meant to reinforce life lessons especially vital to recovery and healing. To close the exhibition, the pots will be distributed to the audience. She hopes that through this, the witnessing audience will be a means of carrying her story to an even larger audience, disseminating their message throughout the community.