Ifeyinwa Joy Chiamonwu (b. 1995 in Maiduguri, Nigeria. From Anambra state, Nigeria; Lives and works in Anambra, Nigeria) is an artist whose work celebrates and preserves themes of tradition, culture, and family. Chiamonwu discovered her passion and talent for drawing and art at a young age, and went on to graduate from Nnamdi Azikiwe University with a degree in Education. Deeply committed to her Igbo heritage, Chiamonwu sees her work as an opportunity to not only preserve, but to also educate audiences around the world and give a voice to members of the community who feel they have lost their culture to the advance of technology and Westernization. Despite having no formal artistic training, Chiamonwu’s meticulously detailed use of charcoal, sepia, pastels, acrylic paints and coffee stains on paper and canvas, pushes the bounds of her mediums. Through this technique, Chiamonwu creates portraits of friends and family as mythical and historical characters, immortalizing the rich and eloquent histories, traditions, cultural values, myths, and the ethnic practices of the Igbo people of Nigeria, West Africa.
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