Ruth Ige

Ruth Ige is a painter born in Nigeria in 1992, currently residing in Auckland, New Zealand. She earned her Bachelor of Visual Arts degree from Auckland University of Technology in 2016. In her art, she combines traditional portraiture with abstract fields of color, offering the viewer compositions with a more mysterious and spiritual impact. Specifically, she expresses the concept of "veiling" by depicting her figures devoid of distinct features and in an elusive manner. Her works aim to highlight Blackness and its cultural significance, using the color blue intensely to draw the viewer deeper into this realm. Ige describes her works as a love letter to the Black diaspora, stating that these works are tools for healing, escape, resistance, and empowerment.