We’re closing ✨️Echoes of the Nile✨️ with a warm gathering of friends, collectors, and art lovers. Come raise a glass with us, share your reflections, and step once more into the world of *Data Oruwari* before the works journey on.
*Saturday August 30th | 7PM–10PM*
*Southside Contemporary Art Gallery, Richmond VA*
Free entry. RSVP link in bio.
For purchases & enquiries: [email protected]
“I Honor The God and Goddess”.
This pieces is part of the ‘Echoes of the Nile’ series showing at @southsidecontemporary starting August 1st and curated by @osengwa .
It represents the Ma’at virtue that speaks to the restoration of sacred balance between the divine feminine and masculine energies, both within us and in the world around us. In African cosmology, the God and Goddess are not faraway deities but forces of nature, ancestral intelligences, and cosmic principles that animate all of existence.
This virtue calls us to remember that divinity is immanent. It lives in our breath, our choices, our bodies.
Today’s world bears the consequences of what happens when we do not honor this balance: a society shaped by patriarchal dominance, exploitation, emotional repression, and disconnection from the Earth. The divine feminine has been silenced, and the masculine has been wounded. Expressing itself through domination rather than divine protection.
This imbalance gives rise to ecological collapse, gender-based violence, broken families, and systems that reward control over care.
To honor both the God and Goddess is to decolonize our relationship with power. It is to heal the fracture in our own spirits. Reclaiming softness as strength, action as sacred, and wholeness as holy. It’s a call to embody both nurturance and discernment, intuition and wisdom, stillness and movement.
The artwork features a pregnant African woman holding a cutlass which is a powerful visual metaphor for the union of creation and protection, softness and strength. Her body holds the mystery of life; her blade, the precision of purpose. A tattoo of the Ankh, an ancient African symbol of balanced life force, adorns her arm affirming that we are all divine vessels capable of holding both light and shadow in sacred harmony.
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#africanart #maat #women #divinefeminine #divinemasculine #harmony #balance #africanwisdom #visionaryart #sacredart #africanspirituality #collective #healing
Join us for the next LILA Salon — a free online gathering of devotional art featuring powerful works in music, film, poetry, and more from our global open call. We’ll be joined by a diverse group of artists sharing their sacred art and process.
🗓 September 20, 2025
⏰ 2PM NYC | 11AM California | 7PM London | 8PM Paris | 9PM Istanbul | 11:30PM India
📍 Online (Zoom)
🕊️ All are welcome. Comment SALON to receive the RSVP link!
In alignment with our ethos, we have continued to navigate ways to increase exposure and accessibility of contemporary fine art while also honoring and protecting the integrity of the artist’s work.
Very excited to present a new initiative to our community! We will be raffling off (1) select original work by @dataoruwari from her recent debut solo exhibition.
Please read all details + email with any inquiries.
Raffle entry:
$50 = (1) raffle entry
Unlimited entries allowed
Entries accepted through 09.23. Raffle winner will be announced 10.07.
NOTE::: If raffle tickets total does not cover the entire price of the original artwork, raffle winner agrees to either utilize collected funds towards a down payment or surrender winning claim.
There’s a special joy we love seeing when collectors grab new works. It’s a feeling that will never get old and we love to experience and capture it.
Congratulations to all the new collectors, curator @samthesunchild and artist @dataoruwari
Thank you again!
A little #wip snippet from the virtue ‘I am Optimistic’.
In a world shaken by chaos, grief, and uncertainty, optimism can feel like a fragile thing. Yet across African traditions, the ability to hope in the unseen is a spiritual muscle, not a luxury. Optimism is not about denying pain, it is the quiet power of believing that the story is not over. It is choosing to trust in the possibilities that exist beyond what we see.
Our ancestors endured enslavement, colonialism, and displacement, yet they sang, dreamed, and built. This virtue reminds us that optimism is ancestral memory, coded in our DNA as a sacred form of resilience.
We choose to see light not because everything is perfect, but because we know light always returns.
When imbalanced, the absence of optimism breeds despair. We become paralyzed by fear, trapped in cycles of doubt and hopelessness. Spiritually, we disconnect from our creative power and stop co-creating our future. Collectively, communities become cynical, forgetting their strength, their potential, and the divine forces guiding them. Without hope, we lose the will to transform, repair, and rise.
The imagery shows an elder holding light in his hand, a symbol of his power to choose perspective. Behind him are three staffs, reflecting both his spiritual authority and the numerological symbol of optimism. On each staff is the Adinkra symbol Nyame Biribi Wo Soro, meaning “God is in the heavens,” an encouraging reminder that even in times of hardship, we should stay hopeful because there is a higher power listening and responding.
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#africanspirituality #maat #oracledeck #africanart #icon #iconography #illumination #africa
Quick Reminder!!!
Meet & Greet with Data Oruwari
Friday, August 22, 4pm-6pm
“Echoes of the Nile” debut solo exhibition by @dataoruwari curated by @samthesunchild now on view through Saturday Aug. 30
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Gallery Hours:
Tues-Wed: By Appointment
Thurs-Sat: 12-6pm
Photos x @j.kirven
The Echoes of the Nile opening was more than just an evening; it was a gathering of friends, artists, and dreamers united by curiosity and kinship. The air was alive with laughter, conversations, and the shared joy of stepping into a world woven from ancestral connections.
Now, as we reach the midway point of the exhibition, we pause to relive those moments and invite you to journey deeper into the works on display.
✨️On view at Southside Contemporary Art Gallery, Richmond, VA until August 30th.
Explore the Echoes of the Nile exhibition catalog via the link in our bio!
✨ Community Healing Circle with Data Oruwari ✨
This Sunday, we gather - heart to heart, spirit to spirit - for a virtual community healing circle inspired by Echoes of the Nile.
Guided by artist Data Oruwari, this will be a therapeutic art and reflection session rooted in the ancient virtues of Ma’at; truth, balance, harmony, justice, reciprocity, order, and propriety. Together, we will explore how these principles can elevate our collective consciousness and nurture communal harmony.
Whether you’ve visited the exhibition or are joining for the first time, this is a sacred space to connect, reflect, and create in community.
📅 Date: Sunday, August 17, 2025
🕒 Time: 2 PM EST / 7 PM WAT
📍 Online – Sign up to receive access details: https://bit.ly/communityhealingcirclewithData (link in bio)
Come as you are. Leave with a lighter heart, deeper insight, and a renewed sense of connection.
The virtue “I Advance Through My Own Abilities” reminds us that we are each born with a sacred imprint; a divine talent encoded into our being.
In Igbo cosmology, this inner spirit of skill and genius is known as Agwu; a spiritual force that guides us toward self-mastery and purpose. This virtue reminds us to honor our unique abilities, not just for personal gain, but as a path to spiritual advancement. Our gifts are not random; they are the compass pointing us toward our soul mission on earth.
Like the sun knows its place in the sky, and each cell in the body carries out its purpose without envy or confusion, we too have a rightful place in the cosmic order. Mastering our gifts is not always easy, especially in a society that often rewards conformity over authenticity. Yet the journey of refining your abilities; whether as a healer, artist, teacher, builder, or strategist; is how we align with Ma’at. Advancement is not always about position or pay; it is about inner fulfillment and the harmony your gift brings to others.
When imbalanced, we doubt our worth or chase after roles that do not reflect our true abilities. We may feel lost, underutilized, or trapped in work that dulls our spirit. Collectively, a society that dismisses spiritual gifts in favor of capital gain breeds widespread dissatisfaction, burnout, and disconnection. When we abandon our innate talents, we sever the link to our soul’s evolution and the community loses what only we could offer.
The imagery shows two people engaged in an ancestral board game known by many names; Ayò, Awalé, Wari, Ouri, Ncho, and more. It is a game of strategy, patience, and foresight. You do not win by chance; you win through skill. This mirrors life. Advancement is earned through the deliberate practice and honoring of your Agwu. We rise not by imitation, but by mastery.
This piece is currently showing at the @southsidecontemporary and is curated by @osengwa .
It is also part of the upcoming oracle deck series that will be released by @tazamaafricantarot later this year.
#africanspirituality #sacredart #africanart #visionaryart #maat #africa #iconography #oracle #divination
Still resonating on the warm embrace of the opening reception of “Echoes of the Nile”. We appreciate all those that came from near and far to support @dataoruwari@samthesunchild and the gallery.
We continue to welcome you into the space to engage this debut solo exhibition and leave the experience with intention and impact.
Gallery hours:
Thursday-Saturday
12-6pm
Photo set x @j.kirven
