about BLACKBIRD
Hi, I'm Ngozi.
I didn't set out to become an artist,
I was just looking for a distraction...
What started as a weekend pastime rather quickly became an obsession.
I have ADHD, a restless mind and a deep suspicion of boredom. Left to its own devices, my brain will always find something to occupy itself with, and not necessarily something useful.
I think a lot. I turn things over, 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). Words and phrases lodge themselves in my head. Ideas arrive from nowhere and then stubbornly refuse to leave.
Painting gave them somewhere to go.
It became a way of getting some of the noise out of my head and into the world; sometimes in words, sometimes in colour, sometimes in ways I don't entirely understand until the painting is finished. I tend to start with a thought, a feeling, a phrase or simply a colour I can't stop thinking about, and then follow it to see where it goes.
And that's how Blackbird on a Wire began.
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 some of those same preoccupations find their way onto the page.
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; I prefer to just follow my instincts, 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.
