about BLACKBIRD
Hi, I'm Ngozi.
I didn't set out to become an artist,
I just wanted to quiet my mind.
As someone with ADHD, there is always a lot going on in my head. Boredom is my enemy. If my busy brain doesn’t have something useful to occupy itself with, it'll find something… which can be dangerous territory for a chronic overthinker.
I think a lot. I turn things over in my mind, pull them apart and put them back together again. I read and write poetry. I start reading books; I even start writing them (I rarely finish either, mind). Phrases get stuck in my head, sparking ideas that stubbornly refuse to leave until I’ve found somewhere to put them.
Painting became one of those places. It gives all that noise, curiosity and overthinking somewhere to go: out of my head and onto the page. And that's how Blackbird on a Wire started. I take my random thoughts, a few words, a dash of colour, and I create. My art is about the full spectrum of the human experience, from the profound to the ridiculous, and all the beautiful spaces in between.
When I'm not painting, I have a rather full life as an entrepreneur, speaker, and mother. Much of my work is about people; how we think, feel, work and relate to one another, so perhaps it isn't surprising that those same questions keep finding their way into my art.
I paint with words, too.
Some paintings start with an image. Others begin with a phrase, quote, lyric, or even a title. I've been writing down these thoughts and fragments for years. Sometimes those words inspire my abstracts; sometimes they become the centre of the work itself.
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ART BY INSTINCT, NOT DESIGN.
I'm a self-taught abstractionist, creating most weekends from a sunny corner of my kitchen in Manchester, UK, a space I lovingly refer to as 'The Creation Station'. I rarely start with a plan or an end in mind. Instead, I work intuitively, building up colour, marks, texture and words until something takes shape. Sometimes the finished piece resembles what I'd imagined, but more often than not it doesn't. I've learned not to mind either way. I'm much more interested in whether a piece feels right than whether it's perfect. I've found that in art, as in life, sometimes the beauty is in those imperfections.
FROM ABSTRACT_MUM TO BLACKBIRD
@abstract_mum started as a way to encourage me to paint and develop my skills.
When I started exploring abstract painting, I decided to share the process on Instagram. It gave me the discipline to keep creating and, just as importantly, permission not to take every outcome too seriously. I shared the good, the bad and the ugly: the experiments that worked, the ones that didn't, and the occasional happy accident that became something I loved.
Over time, there were more of those.
I began giving pieces to family and friends, and people started asking whether they could buy my work. Then more people suggested I should sell it. Eventually, it became clear that some of what I was creating had a life beyond my own walls.
That's where Blackbird on a Wire comes in.
Blackbird is the evolution of that experiment: a curated home for the pieces I believe are finished, distinctive and worthy of their place here. Some are carefully considered; others emerge through experimentation. Some begin with words or an idea I can't shake. Others are led entirely by colour, texture and feeling.
The experimentation hasn't stopped, and I don't want it to. I still try things, push boundaries, make mistakes and occasionally discover something wonderful in the process.
Abstract_Mum is where this particular chapter began.
Blackbird on a Wire is where it landed.
Why Blackbird?
The name 'Blackbird on a Wire' isn't new to me. It actually began years ago as the name of a blog I wrote. I love 'Blackbird', the song made famous by The Beatles and beautifully reimagined by Beyoncé. And as the Black British woman behind the brand, I'm partial to a little wry, self-referential wordplay.
The 'on a wire' came from the blog itself, a little nod to old-fashioned journalism and the idea of sending observations out into the world along a telephone wire. So when I started thinking about a brand name for my art, I came back to 'Blackbird on a Wire' because, frankly, I still love it!
And it works. I'm still observing, thinking and making sense of the world around me. Only these days, some of those thoughts end up being expressed in paint rather than paragraphs.
Same Blackbird.
Different medium.
