Queens, Goddesses, and Warriors - Fatima Tajah Olson (Visual Artist)
Fatima Tajah Olson is originally from Malawi, but spent most of her young-adult life in Canada. She describes herself as a visual artist as well as a performance artist. Tajah has been exhibiting her work in Canada and the US since 2016.
Tajah is the subject of her paintings. She creates stunning portraits of herself, photographs them, and subsequently paints them. Growing up as a young African girl in a small mostly-white town in Canada. She felt the pressure and gaze of otherness. Creating artwork of herself was a way of creating a healthy space between her and the townspeople who were fascinated with her. It was a way of creating something separate from her that others can observe. In the process, she found something incredible; she found herself. The process grounded her, allowed her to heal and find home again.
A stunning quality of her artwork is its momentariness. Tajah captures the moment. The process is spontaneous and depends on what she is feeling at the moment. In describing it, she recounts : “I do what feels good at the moment. I portray what I am feeling at that moment whether it is feelings, emotions, thoughts or color; that is just what I am gonna create.
Those days I realize, today is not my day, I am not there yet, i am not there as a whole person, or my feelings are not there, there is something missing, i need to regroup and come back to it later.” Hence, her work is characterized by uninhibited rawness and sincereness grounded by the power and spectacle of the now and present.
The collision of her two worlds: Art and Psychology. Tajah utilized her two passions during a volunteer trip to Malawi. She visited remote villages and clinics and practiced art therapy with children. “It was eye opening as soon as I opened the bag, all the materials were gone in two seconds, so I realized that crave and that need using that tool as a therapy”. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Psychology and Therapy and hopes to combine art and therapy in the future.
Written by Nimco Abdirahman
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Listen to full audio interview
In conversation with Fatima Tajah Olson African Film Arts
sample art therapy work
Video courtesy Fatima Tajah Olson