Yaoundé Olu
Yaoundé Olu (also known as Dr. Joyce P. Bowen), is a multimedia artist, cartoonist, musician, and educator who has advocated for the arts and education since her career began in 1960s Chicago. She founded the pathbreaking Osun Gallery in 1968 and continued as its director into the early ‘80s. As a cartoonist, she has won four Best Editorial Cartoon awards to date.
Her works of visual art have been described as "imaginative compositions that combine tribal African designs and symbols with sleek,futuristic imagery, with totemic figures adorned with patterns and immersed in fields of color."[1] Although many have described her work as afrofuturist, she prefers to describe what she does as a form of retrofuturism.
In this interview excerpt, Olu describes the importance of art in her early childhood and teenage years, as well as her experience as a woman in predominantly male professional and artistic spaces.
More Information:
Interview with Rebecca Zorach, 2013.
Olu’s professional site. Includes a selection of her more recent work.
[1]Marissa Baker, "Yaounde Olu: Atomic Energies and Black Struggle", University of Chicago, May 12, 2014, https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/artofacommunityspeaks/2014/05/12/yaounde-olu-atomic-energies-and-black-struggle
| Time | Annotation | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| 0:13 - 0:20 | We're speaking with Yaounde Olu. Hi Yaounde. | Transcription |
| 0:20 - 0:21 | Hi. | Transcription |
| 0:23 - 0:29 | Now. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Joyce Bowens, right? | Transcription |
| 0:29 - 0:33 | Joyce Bowen. B-o-w-e-n. | Transcription |
| 0:34 - 0:38 | And she was born somewhere at some time, presumably. When did that take place? | Transcription |
| 0:38 - 0:44 | Well, Joyce Patricia Bowen was born November 15, 1945. | Transcription |
| 0:44 - 0:45 | Where? | Transcription |
| 0:45 - 0:47 | In Chicago, Illinois. | Transcription |
| 0:47 - 0:49 | I see. And what did she do then? | Transcription |
| 0:51 - 0:53 | She began to observe the world around her. | Transcription |
| 0:53 - 0:58 | This is good. And I'm sure that she came up with some interesting observations. | Transcription |
| 0:59 - 1:04 | Yes, she did. She found life to be very strange and interesting. | Transcription |
| 1:07 - 1:08 | Mmhmm. Yes? | Transcription |
| 1:10 - 1:21 | And um... birth to me was like-- just a minute, do you want it to be this...? I mean, I'm, you know... | Transcription |
| 1:22 - 1:23 | Speak your mind. | Transcription |
| 1:23 - 1:25 | Wait, turn-- turn that off for a minute. | Transcription |
| 1:28 - 1:51 | My earliest experiences, in terms -- you know, with life, were very interesting. And they filled me with a desire to experience life in its fullest. You know, and gave me a positive attitude to try to do as best as I possibly could in life, in whatever it was that I wanted to do. I felt this very early in life. | Transcription |
| 1:54 - 2:03 | I see. And when did your artistic tendencies begin to really-- When did you become aware of your artistic tendencies? | Transcription |
| 2:04 - 2:30 | Well, my mother says that-- well, she has a drawing that I did when I was two years old. A recognizable baby buggy, she said it was really a baby buggy. And I think she still has it. But that was the first drawing I did. But I would like to say that I was influenced a great deal by my father too. My mother and my-- my parents are very interested in, you know, they like art. | Transcription |
| 2:30 - 2:47 | And my father was an artist. He wanted to be an artist, but he ended up with children, so he settled for doing other things, and sacrifices art. And that's why he has encouraged me to pursue art. | Transcription |
| 2:47 - 3:06 | He did murals of Popeye and Olive Oyl and people like that on my walls when I was a child, like two years old. So that was a great influence on me. You know, having art around me -- watching him, you know, actually paint and draw. | Transcription |
| 3:07 - 3:08 | And then I stick my hand in the water. | Transcription |
| 3:09 - 3:19 | Yes, well that's probably what it was there for. Anyway. So now, we have the two year old drawing -- the painting at two. Do you still have it? | Transcription |
| 3:20 - 3:25 | I think my mother has it. She keeps, she tells me about it but I haven't even looked at it. | Transcription |
| 3:25 - 3:27 | What media is it in? What does it look like? | Transcription |
| 3:27 - 3:46 | It's probably pencil. Probably pencil or crayon. I'm gonna have to ask her about that. I should have, you know, I've been meaning to ask her. We never, I never get a chance to talk about it now. But she says that somewhere she has a drawing of a recognizable baby buggy that I did at age two. | Transcription |
| 3:46 - 3:55 | This is extremely interesting. But now could we move on and see, when did the next little artistic happening develop? | Transcription |
| 3:56 - 4:17 | Well, as a child I always like to create. I lived quite a bit in my imagination: Moon in Pisces [inaudible] in Sun and Scorpio in Saturn. But I had a fantastic imagination. And I was always creating. | Transcription |
| 4:18 - 4:47 | And I was always inspired by others around me who were creating. So I used to go to museums, you know, my parents would take us out, on outings. And I used to look at-- go to the library. I spent a lot of time in the library reading books about the old masters and you know, really getting off into the imaginary world of Botticelli and Tintoretto and those people, you know? | Transcription |
| 4:47 - 4:50 | I don't know, but I'll take your word for it. | Transcription |
| 4:50 - 5:06 | Well, they were early artists. And at that time, I was not aware of any significant Black art influences, So that's where my early experiences came from. The old European masters because that's what was available in the school libraries at the time. | Transcription |
| 5:06 - 5:08 | Wouldn't it be more [inaudible]? | Transcription |
| 5:09 - 5:13 | So what age were you when you were digging these European masters in the grammar school? | Transcription |
| 5:13 - 5:15 | Nine, ten, eleven. | Transcription |
| 5:15 - 5:17 | And were you painting and drawing then? | Transcription |
| 5:18 - 5:21 | Yes, I was. In fact that I had a portfolio at age 11. | Transcription |
| 5:21 - 5:22 | When, when-- | Transcription |
| 5:22 - 5:28 | Portfolio. You know, with a number of drawings neatly arranged and everything in place. | Transcription |
| 5:28 - 5:30 | When did you start drawing seriously like that? | Transcription |
| 5:33 - 5:51 | You know, all my life, whatever I've done, I've done it seriously. So whenever I drew, I drew seriously at school. Whatever I did, I did seriously. I'd like to add to this point, though, that I was just not into art by itself. Art provided a world of escape. A world of images and pictures. | Transcription |
| 5:51 - 6:21 | And I had a very fertile imagination, and I enjoyed being in that world. But I also developed a lot of other interests when I was younger that I think also influenced my art. For example, I had a friend who was a tree, outside my window, very early in life. So, because of that, and because every spring, I would be able to watch this tree develop from bud to full-fledged, blossom-- blooming, a blooming plant or tree. | Transcription |
| 6:21 - 6:53 | It gave me an appreciation for creation also, and an appreciation for nature. So, I've had a lot of other interests. I was an outdoor person. I liked sunshine, I liked all kinds of sports and what have you. I wasn't the quiet kind of little girl who sat at home all the time. I enjoyed being outside and experiencing life. It was not all roses, of course, but it was all intense. | Transcription |
| 6:53 - 7:02 | I see. So in other words, with that drawing at age two, you've been drawing-- just as all children draw-- you've been doing this all your life. This one mode of expression has been with you all your life. | Transcription |
| 7:02 - 7:05 | Right, right, it is. | Transcription |
| 7:06 - 7:14 | You had a portfolio at age 11. Characterize a little bit of your development for us over your teen years. | Transcription |
| 7:15 - 7:41 | Well during my teen years, I lost my intense desire to be with nature as much as I had, as opposed to my earlier years. But my adolescent years were very physical years. I remember, you know, discovering what it meant to be a girl. | Transcription |
| 7:41 - 8:01 | At that point, I began to-- my body began to change, so I began to view the world around me differently. And my interests began to be centered upon personality and human relationships and, you know, early romance, things like that. | Transcription |
| 8:02 - 8:04 | Do you want me to talk about these things? | Transcription |
| 8:04 - 8:20 | Yes, well romance is obviously an important part of life, and it ties up our emotions and may be closely related to creativity. Yaoundé, I wanted to ask you, you discovered what it meant to be a girl, a woman. What does it mean? | Transcription |
| 8:23 - 8:47 | Well, at that time I was learning more, not just what it meant to be a girl psychologically and spiritually, because I'm still learning that today. But I'm talking about learning the ritual that most human beings go through in order to be acculturized. | Transcription |
| 8:47 - 8:49 | A socialization process. | Transcription |
| 8:49 - 8:49 | Exactly. | Transcription |
| 8:50 - 8:51 | An acculturation process. | Transcription |
| 8:51 - 8:59 | Right. For example, girls don't stand on the corner. You know, girls don't hang in the schoolyard with the boys after dark. | Transcription |
| 8:59 - 9:04 | Where did you pick up these values from? From observed behavior or from an older relative? | Transcription |
| 9:04 - 9:22 | To be perfectly honest and truthful I do not know. Subliminal influences are around us continually. So, it's not always-- I don't think we're always conscious of the machine input that we automatically respond to continually. | Transcription |
| 9:22 - 9:40 | So we develop, you know, these roles that just absorb, I mean, the role concepts are absorbed and we respond automatically based on patterns that were established earlier. You know, based on that big-T "Tradition". You see. | Transcription |
| 9:40 - 9:49 | I see. When did you first start to publicly display your works and gain your present community stature? | Transcription |
| 9:49 - 10:07 | Well, like I said, my teen years were more concerned-- were dealing more with my physical and social development. But in high school I went through a number of changes in terms of trying to decide what I was going to do. | Transcription |
| 10:07 - 10:33 | I had an academic-- I was in the academic curriculum, but I qualified for what they called Art Major. So I had Art Major. And, but I developed a fantastic interest in science and also in music. In fact I got a little-- I won the John Phillip Sousa Award, which was one of the highest awards you could get at that time. In elementary school-- I mean, in high school, for music. | Transcription |
| 0:12 - 0:20 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 0:20 - 0:21 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 0:23 - 0:29 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 0:29 - 0:33 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 0:34 - 0:38 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 0:38 - 0:44 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 0:44 - 0:45 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 0:45 - 0:47 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 0:47 - 0:49 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 0:51 - 0:53 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 0:53 - 0:58 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 0:59 - 1:04 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 1:07 - 1:08 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 1:10 - 1:21 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 1:22 - 1:23 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 1:23 - 1:25 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 1:28 - 1:51 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 1:54 - 2:03 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 2:04 - 3:06 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 3:07 - 3:08 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 3:09 - 3:19 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 3:20 - 3:25 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 3:25 - 3:27 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 3:27 - 3:46 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 3:46 - 3:55 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 3:56 - 4:47 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 4:47 - 4:50 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 4:50 - 5:06 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 5:06 - 5:08 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 5:09 - 5:13 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 5:13 - 5:15 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 5:15 - 5:17 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 5:18 - 5:21 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 5:21 - 5:22 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 5:22 - 5:28 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 5:28 - 5:30 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 5:33 - 6:53 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 6:53 - 7:02 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 7:02 - 7:05 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 7:06 - 7:14 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 7:15 - 8:01 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 8:02 - 8:04 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 8:04 - 8:20 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 8:23 - 8:47 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 8:47 - 8:49 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 8:49 - 8:49 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 8:50 - 8:51 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 8:51 - 8:59 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 8:59 - 9:04 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 9:04 - 9:40 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 9:40 - 9:49 | Speaker Unknown | Speaker |
| 9:49 - 10:33 | Yaounde Olu | Speaker |
| 0:08 - 0:12 | [Busy café sounds] | Environment |
| 0:21 - 0:23 | [Laughter] | Environment |
| 1:04 - 1:06 | [Chuckling] | Environment |
| 1:08 - 1:09 | [Utensil hits table] | Environment |
| 1:21 - 1:21 | [Laughter] | Environment |
| 1:23 - 1:25 | [Whispering] | Environment |
| 1:25 - 1:26 | [Tape whirring] | Environment |
| 2:06 - 2:07 | [Plate clinks] | Environment |
| 3:08 - 3:09 | [Laughter] | Environment |
| 4:16 - 4:16 | [Utencil clinks] | Environment |
| 4:48 - 4:49 | [Laughter] | Environment |
| 5:03 - 5:04 | [Plate clacks on table] | Environment |
| 5:08 - 5:09 | [Tape whirring] | Environment |
| 6:06 - 6:17 | [Spoon rattling in mug] | Environment |
| 6:53 - 6:53 | [Laughter] | Environment |
| 8:02 - 8:04 | [Whispering] | Environment |