On Friday, June 19, artist Jeremiah Onifadé opened his “Blue Dot” exhibit in a repurposed house in the Bonton neighborhood of Dallas, funded in part by The City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture. For 96 hours straight, visitors were able to visit the show in the oft-forgotten neighborhood.
“It’s a place everyone ignores,” Onifadé acknowledges, “but that’s why I want to go there.”
Repurposed house in Bonton neighborhood (2727 Rochester St., Dallas, TX)
By hosting an art show in a neighborhood often overlooked or seen as dangerous, Onifadé hopes to open up Dallas denizens to new places & experiences.
“I want to talk about gentrification, & how one community is not greater than another in our community or our country,” he says. “When we gentrify something, we create a black hole. Instead of pushing people out, why not revitalize that community? That’s the question I’m asking with this show.”
“Blue Dot” included new paintings by Onifadé and work from young local artists Charles Gray and Jess Tedder. The name is inspired by Onifadé’s belief that we all have a responsibility on this blue dot we call earth,and that we’re all part of the same community.
“If you meet an alien, you’re not going to say you’re from Frisco or Nigeria,” he says. “You’re going to say, ‘I’m from Earth.’ And if we rescue you, we’re going to say, ‘He’s from Earth. He’s one of us.’”
As a Black artist from Nigeria, Onifadé admits it has been hard to focus recently. Nevertheless, he is hopeful that his work can be a vital part of the calls for change.
“It’s hard to do art right now,” he says. “It's a life or death situation, and it’s important to be in tune with everything that’s going on. My hope is that people see our work, see what we have to say, then leave the house & do what they can do to make this place a better community for all of us.”
To stay up to date on Onifadé’s work, visit his Instagram here. Stay tuned for his next exhibit, an installation in the Spring at the Dallas Public Library.