We were lucky to catch up with Uzo Ngwu recently and have shared our conversation below.

Uzo, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In 2021, I got the opportunity to co-direct and animate the opening for a short film in collaboration with the Harvard-Radcliffe Institute. Described as playful and informative, the film “Light the Way Home: Eileen Southern’s Story” introduces the major achievements of the pathbreaking music historian Eileen Southern (1920–2002), who in 1976 became the first African American woman tenured in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. I worked alongside filmmaker Daniel Huang and composer/performer Devon Gates to bring this project to life. Light the Way Home draws on interviews, archival footage, and Southern’s personal archive to shed light on her illustrious career. The film was funded through the Radcliffe Research Teams program and the Barajas Dean’s Innovation Fund for Digital Arts and Humanities at Harvard. This project was especially meaningful to me because it allowed me to highlight the achievements of a Black woman scholar whose work and impact were largely unknown.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Of course! I am a multidisciplinary artist whose work encompasses illustration, film, and animation. As a freelance illustrator, I have created posters, portraits and social media materials for companies such as Hulu, MTV, Freeform, VH1, Oxfam America and Audible. For my illustration work, I’m often contacted to create bold and colorful portraits for my clients. My first freelance illustration client commissioned my services by contacting me via email. At that point in time I had been steadily building an online following by consistently posting my artwork, mostly portraits, to my Instagram account. I’ve also offered animation services for clients interested in adding simple animation elements to their video projects. Most notably, I animated the opening for a short documentary I helped co-direct highlighting the work and achievements of Eileen Southern, the first African American woman tenured in Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. I also use animation to tell my own stories. I’m currently directing and producing an animated short film, MMANWU, with the support of the Harvardwood Artist Launch fellowship. This short film follows Ogechi, a 15-year-old Nigerian-American teenager, as she returns to Nigeria for her grandfather’s burial ceremony. Set in modern day Nigeria, this film mixes magical realism and horror/thriller to explore themes of grief, spirituality and cross-cultural understanding. One of the reasons I’m compelled to tell this story is because of the lack of projects in the mainstream animation landscape that center African narratives. After this film, I hope to continue creating animated projects that tell culturally rich and nuanced stories.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am driven by the desire to fill the gap in representation across creative mediums. In my personal illustration work, I like to highlight the beauty of Blackness and Black women because I want young Black kids to see my work and recognize that they, too, are art. Similarly in my films, I’m interested in telling nuanced stories from underrepresented perspectives. Ultimately, I am driven by the desire to create work that makes people feel seen and understood.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my primary creative audience on Instagram starting in 2019. At the time, it was enough to just post consistently and engage with other artists on the platform to build a following, but things have since changed since I first started that account. My advice for artists interested in building an audience on Instagram today is finding ways to turn your work into reels. Even if you’re a visual artist, you can make a reel documenting your process creating a piece. Consistently posting on reels is one of the best ways to grow on Instagram today. I would also encourage artists to build community online by engaging with other creatives whose work you like. However, it’s always important to remember that you are a person and not a machine. Don’t get too caught up in the numbers. Rather, focus on creating authentic work and the right people will find you.

Contact Info:

• Website: uzongwu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uzotheartist/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uzongwu/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/uzongwu
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@uzotheartist?si=SWaG1t4T8Mgda6jN