Isabel Okoro is a Nigerian visual artist based based in Toronto. Fond Traces of Fluid Landscapes presents a new body of cross-disciplinary print works rooted in the philosophical foundations of her imagery explorations and created during her 2026 Smokestack Hybrid Print Residency.
Artist Statement
Fond Traces of Fluid Landscapes is a consolidation of my visual archive, bringing together portraits and spatial images captured over the last eight years across Lagos, Toronto, Mexico City, and New York. By weaving these distinct points in time into a single extended sequence, the work explores the converging and diverging ways we experience people and space.
Central to this series is the physical integration of analog and digital print processes. Developed during a hybrid residency at Smokestack Studio, each piece is a literal double exposure: a monochromatic silkscreen print on Yupo paper layered beneath a digital print on an optically transparent sheet. This tactile collage creates an interesting depth, pushing the boundaries of how a still image can be presented and also how to bring together various photographic and printmaking techniques.
While these works exist outside the physical realm of my ongoing visual universe, Eternity, they remain deeply rooted in its defining philosophy: Normatopia. I am interested in creating images that feel “normal” rather than perfect – anchor points for a broader research into memory and time.
Ultimately, this body of work is an invitation to curiosity. I hope to challenge the viewer’s perception of what is “real” and evoke a feeling that transcends the technical, mirrored in the fluid, painterly textures of the landscapes themselves.
-Isabel Okoro
Isabel Okoro was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. Recent exhibition of her work in Canada have included presentations with Patel Brown, Olga Korper Gallery, Gallery TPW, Nuit Blanche, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto, ON; and the Black Arts Centre in Surrey, BC. Her work has been internationally exhibited in Mexico and the UK.
