State of the Arts - Wells Fray-Smith and Kojo Marfo

Kojo Marfo (b. 1980) is a Ghanian artist living and working in London. Hear him in discussion with London-based curator Wells Fray-Smith discuss the inspiration behind his work, his painting practices, and his desire to connect people all over the world through his colourful, fluid portraits.

In Marfo's portraits, figures with stylised faces look directly at the viewer. They are expressions of hybridity; genderless, colourful and embodying many different positions. Marfo draws on references ranging from 18th Century Elizabethan dress to French modernist painting to people's relationship with animals in order to investigate the human condition and create universal images of humanity.

Marfo is represented by JD Malat Gallery in London, where he had his debut exhibition Dreaming of Identity in 2021.

Wells Fray-Smith is a curator based in London, currently holding the position of Assistant Curator: Special Projects at Whitechapel Gallery. Before that, she held similar positions Pace Gallery and the Barbican Art Gallery, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is responsible for the Max Mara Art Prize for Women at Whitechapel Gallery and projects include Helen Cammock: Che si puó fare and Sense Sound Sound Sense (2019). She was research assistant for Basquiat: Boom For Real at the Barbican Art Gallery (2017) and has contributed catalogue essays on artists Fabienne Verdier (2020) and Prabhavathi Meppayil (2021).