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Greenfield photographer Victoria Odekomaya greets guests at last year’s Boss Ladies Gala. This year’s event is coming up in March.
Submitted photo
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Greenfield photographer Victoria Odekomaya greets guests at last year’s Boss Ladies Gala. This year’s event is coming up in March.
Greenfield photographer Victoria Odekomaya greets guests at last year’s Boss Ladies Gala. This year’s event is coming up in March.
Submitted photo
GREENFIELD – A Greenfield woman has turned her passion for photography into a career promoting female entrepreneurs, and an upcoming gala is expected to bring in thousands for a charity.
Victoria Odekomaya is a luxury photographer and brand strategist who strives to empower and inspire women in business.
Women wear a lot of hats, said Odekomaya, a married mother of two. With so many Indy-area women talented in everything from side hustles to manufacturing to large corporations, Odekomaya says she wants to capture images and help tell their stories so they can inspire others.
“I just want to get the word out there for women to be inspired, for women to be encouraged,” she said. “You know, ‘You’ve got this.’”
Odekomaya has lived in Greenfield about 12 years. Originally from Nigeria, she moved to the states as a student and got a job in drug development sciences. She pursued photography and filmmaking as a hobby for about 10 years, and around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic she knew she wanted to get more serious with her pastimes.
Laid off a little over a year ago, she realized it was time to start her own business. In 2022, she launched the Boss Ladies Campaign with the purpose of giving women a “celebrity photo shoot experience” to create images and videos for women to “level up their brand” and help them feel confident and empowered.
Based out of LiM Studios – her home in an eastern Greenfield neighborhood – Odekomaya provides clients with professional hair and makeup for a photo shoot, wardrobe styling, refreshments, a collection of images, and a feature in her magazine.
Additionally, Odekomaya organizes a gala every year to celebrate her clients and raise money for a charity. Last year, the first Boss Ladies Gala raised $10,000 to support Dove Recovery House for Women in Indianapolis.
This year, the gala is set for March 15 and will benefit Pink Ribbon Connection, whose mission is to provide free supplies and services to breast cancer patients and survivors across Indiana. The funds will go toward free mastectomy bras, prosthesis, post-surgical garments and wigs.
“We are grateful to Victoria and are excited to be part of such an extraordinary gathering to support the work we do to assist breast cancer patients at any stage of their journey,” said Dori Sparks-Unsworth, executive director of Pink Ribbon Connection.
Odekomaya said she was thrilled with last year’s gala success, and is hoping for another $10,000 to be raised this year for Pink Ribbon Connection. She plans to benefit a women’s charity every year, and is still seeking sponsors, auction items and people that want to attend the event. Every ticket earns a credit with her photography business as well.
Odekomaya said her goal is to help small business owners be known and heard. Her website encourages women to “stop being the best kept secret” in their industry.
“I feel like they don’t know how to (market themselves),” she said. “There are women who have no idea how to do this… don’t know how to be strategic about it, to be intentional. People won’t patronize or walk with you if they don’t know you’re there.”
One of her clients, Gabie Benson, is a Greenfield native who now lives in McCordsville. Benson launched Sprout Fundraising and Consulting in 2023, working with nonprofits both locally and nationally.
Benson said she’s known Odekomaya for years, and when she showed up for her photo shoot, Odekomaya turned her tough day around. She was thrilled with the images that came out of the shoot, and was glad to connect Odekomaya with last year’s gala beneficiary.
“I’m so proud of what Victoria was able to create with the first year of the event,” she said in an email. “I know this year’s gala will be an even bigger success.”
Jill O’Boyle is a burnout recovery coach for high-achieving women, and her office is based out of McCordsville. She reached out to Odekomaya for photos and to promote her business.
“She captured my fun, outgoing personality but also showed imagery to support my past story of burnout and stress, which created a visual story that the audience can relate to,” she said, adding that she would recommend any woman business owner to consider the business.
O’Boyle said last year’s gala was a fun way to celebrate and empower women in business while also benefiting a good cause.
Odekomaya said it’s powerful to get women together for a red carpet event.
“That’s what we do – we’re always giving, always loving; it’s great to get women together to have fun, enjoy, network together and also raise funds for an organization,” Odekomaya said. “It’s just an incredible opportunity.”
One look at Xavier Scott Marshall’s photographs and you’ll become engulfed in his staged world. Another, deeper look, and you’ll realise that this world is a cultural and aesthetic reconstruction. Born and raised in New York and across the United States, to Trinidadian parents, the photographer can trace his love for imagery back to early childhood. “I was around eight, and by the time I got to high school, I started taking darkroom courses.” And today, he boasts a deep familiarity with both his process and subject matter, creating grand black-and-white imagery of mainly family and friends, that he processes and prints by hand.
All of Xavier’s photographs are connected by a religious thread of “decontextualised religious icons, saints, and martyrs across various cities in the United States and Europe that reflect the colonial history of image-making”. Simply, his work is a reclamation of divinity, but more importantly, it traces the Black experience through these periods, by taking cues from modern Black life. With inspirations such as the perception-shifting and explorative paintings of Kerry James Marshall, the identity, power and gender representations found in Carrie Mae Weems’ photography, and the multimedia works of Lorna Simpson, he absorbs and exudes the Black experience from a uniquely surreal perspective.
Koyoltzintli, “Spider Woman Embrace,” 2019/Photo: Koyoltzintli
Aperture and the Museum of Contemporary Photography have teamed up on this powerful exhibition exploring Indigenous issues. Curated by Wendy Red Star, who guest-edited the fall 2020 issue of Aperture magazine, the show touches on the countless matters surrounding the forceful colonization of what is now called America. Through their work, the nine Native artists discuss land rights, identity, gender and the devastating wrongs perpetrated on Indigenous people in this country. It is a history fraught with violence, misunderstanding and heinous crimes against humanity. Films like “Killers of the Flower Moon” bring to light the horrors we as American students never learned about in school, leaving us shocked and ashamed. This exhibition allows a dialogue to emerge, feelings and beliefs to be shared. There can be no more saying “we didn’t know”—truth and the remnants of all that have happened spill from these artists in an articulate way, impossible to ignore, necessary and critical if there is to be reparation, or at least acknowledgment, on the part of our country as a whole.
Rebecca Belmore, “Matriarch,” 2018/Photo: Rebecca Belmore
Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe, Lac Seul First Nation) uses her own body to focus on injustice against First Nation women. In her image titled “Matriarch,” Belmore sits proudly in profile wearing a cape created from fur and red roses. In her image “Spider Woman Embrace,” Koyoltzintli, an Ecuadorian American descended from the Manta people, speaks of the traditional myths of her people in this and her other images in the show. Like Belmore, she uses her own body to express her claim to the lands and traditions of her people.
Duane Linklater, (Omaskêko Ininiwak, Moose Cree First Nation) uses a 1995 issue of Aperture magazine, writing and drawing on the pages, and folding them in patterns common to Native beading and quiltwork. Alan Michelson (Mohawk, Six Nations of the Grand River) photographs projections of stolen lands on a bust of George Washington. In another work suspended in the small side gallery, the artist projects onto a red trade blanket rare footage that depicts Native veterans of the Battle of the Greasy Grass in a 1926 parade.
Marianne Nicolson, “Where Are We Going… What is to Become of Us?”/Photo: Susan Aurinko
Martine Gutierrez, of Mayan heritage, has created a 124-page fashion magazine based on her performance in various items of clothing and objects found in Mexican and Central American markets, fashioning an entire world for a Native, queer woman. There are also pieces by Nalikutaar Jacqueline Cleveland (Yup’ik) from Alaska, Guadalupe Maravilla (Salvadorian American) who fled El Salvador in 1984 as an unaccompanied minor, and the late Kimowan Metchewais (Cree, Cold Lake First Nations), each compelling in their own way.
However, the defining star of the exhibition is the quiet but dominant installation by Marianne Nicolson (Musgamakw Dzaeadg’enuxw) that uses light from above to project patterns of Native symbols like bears, lightning, rivers, mountains, eagles and thunderbirds onto the floor where they lie like a hand-woven rug or Native sand painting. Symbols are the language of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas—Nicolson unlocks their power.
“Native America: In Translation” is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 South Michigan, through May 12.
When Dr. Martha Radice first traveled to New Orleans more than a decade ago to attend a major anthropology conference, she didn’t expect the impact the city would have on her research.
As a social anthropologist whose work focuses on the social, spatial, and cultural dynamics of cities, being introduced to the carnival culture in New Orleans inspired her to explore what the annual celebration does for the thousands of people who participate in the festivities.
“Carnival brings people a lot of joy, though it also takes a lot of hard work,” says Dr. Radice, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Her current research project, Grasping Joy: New-Wave Carnival Krewes in New Orleans explores the ‘new wave’ of carnival krewes and masking in New Orleans. It focuses on the walking krewes — a krewe being a social club that organizes carnival activities — that make their costumes, floats, and throws by hand, and that parade on foot rather than riding on floats.
Dr. Radice, along with photographer Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee, have brought glimpses of that joy and the work behind it to the public through a collaborative exhibition that is now on display on the fence outside the New Orleans Jazz Museum. The show will remain there until just after Mardi Gras day, which falls on February 13 this year.
The work is funded by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Archive Fellowship.
Carnival From the Ground Up is a tribute to the people who make New Orleans’s carnival by hand and who take it to the streets on foot. It features 70 photographs taken by Hodgson-Rigsbee over the last eight years as well as stories of the people represented. Dr. Radice, currently located in New Orleans on sabbatical leave, wrote the accompanying text, captions, and quotes.
Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee and Martha Radice pictured in New Orleans near their exhibition, Carnival From the Ground Up. (Photo © 2024 G. Mouton, III.)
Radice first met Hodgson-Rigsbee on a four-month research trip to New Orleans in 2016. She would see him taking photos almost everywhere she went. She realized that Hodgson-Rigsbee was undertaking a similar project to hers but with pictures instead of words, and that her research about carnival, something so visually dynamic, would be greatly enriched by working with a talented photographer already familiar with the culture and community. The two planned to create an outdoor photography exhibit as one of the knowledge mobilization events supported by Dr. Radice’s SSHRC Insight Grant.
See a selection of images and stories from the exhibition at the bottom of this article.
The captions and quotes accompanying Hodgson-Rigsbee’s colourful photographs are drawn from Dr. Radice’s interviews with the people represented and explain what participating in carnival, especially the ‘do-it-yourself’ parts, means to people.
What she’s found is that creating carnival brings people joy, not only in the exuberance of the parades, but also in the satisfaction that people get out of the work behind the scenes as they make the things they need for carnival, often learning new skills or teaching others on the way.
“There is the pleasure to be had in creativity, in coming up with new ideas and playing with familiar themes,” she says, adding that people build a sense of community as they work or parade with the other members of their groups, and also as they perform for the crowds lining the streets.
“There is also the excitement, the magic that people feel when they are in the moment that they created, in their parade or when they come out in their suits or costumes on Mardi Gras day. For many people this is spiritual, as they uphold longstanding traditions or participate in deeply meaningful rituals.”
Passersby look at Carnival From the Ground Up on Decatur Street, New Orleans. The 70 photos are accessible to the public 24/7. (Photo © 2024 Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee)
Dr. Radice’s research has given her first-hand experience of the joy of carnival. As an anthropologist, she uses the method of participant observation to learn about her research topic.
“I got to learn about carnival by showing up and helping,” she says.
“Being able to create things with other people in a sociable way, in a context that is outside of paid work is an important and rewarding kind of activity, and I think it is probably profoundly good for us as human beings. What’s amazing is that carnival in New Orleans sets up a social structure for people to be able to do this, every year. And I think that’s something that we can really learn from.”
Follow @carnivalfromthegroundup on Instagram for daily photos and read more about the exhibit Carnival From the Ground Up on Dr. Radice’s website.
See selections from the exhibition below. Photographs by Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee; Words by Martha Radice.
Dressed as phoenixes for Mardi Gras 2022, the Society of Sainte Anne parades down Chartres Street towards Jackson Square on their way to the river. Sainte Anne was founded in 1969 by a group of friends keen to revive the gorgeous, glorious street masking traditions of Mardi Gras past. They remain, as one longtime member puts it, “a very anachronistic, anarchic group with no membership roster, no dues. We are an organic occurrence with a band — once a Secret Society and now the favorite to see on Mardi Gras morning — a group of friends and neighbors dressed in their finest regalia, going for a long walk together.”
Krewe de Lune parades in Krewe Bohème’s 2023 parade, on the theme “Night of the Living Art.” Founded in 2009, Krewe de Lune creates stellar puppets, costumes and contraptions to delight parade watchers, as well as hosting their annual Space Ball and Lunar Lagniappe fundraiser.
Members of the Totally Orgasmic Krewe of Intergalactic Ne’er-do-wells, better known as T.O.K.I.N., parade in Krewe du Vieux in 2023.
“It’s healing the child within. Most women that I’ve encountered, most of the Baby Dolls, we’ve been through life’s struggles. It’s healing and it’s spiritual. When people in the audience see me and the other ladies dressed in doll style, no matter what a person may be going through, just to look at us and encounter us, even if it only lasts five minutes, it’s five minutes of spiritual healing. When we come out to play on Mardi Gras day, it doesn’t matter what challenges happened yesterday; when we dress in our regalia, it’s like learning to let go. All that matters is healing, bringing that happy, joyful spirit. It’s a spiritual release.”
Baby Doll Carol “Kit” Harris of the N’awlins D’awlins dances in the Krewe Delusion parade in 2019. The Baby Doll masking tradition dates back to the early 20th century. It waned in the middle of the century, but proud Black New Orleanian women started to bring Baby Dolls back from the 1970s on. The N’awlins D’awlins, which Baby Doll Kit founded in 2016, is one of the groups that keeps the culture thriving today.
“When I’m at work I’m always covered in filth, a behind-the-scenes art rat, versus the glam of Mardi Gras day, being polished with a pound of makeup on. The point of that look was to have a face on a face on a face on a face, to create a play on masking where you don’t know which is the real reality. Being at the river is the most sacred part of my Mardi Gras day. I always end up crying. There’s a baptismal quality to it. The river opens up space where you can process; it gives you that break in the day when you can center yourself. It’s a moment of intimacy. At work, you spend all year with the float two inches from your face, and you can’t see what it’s going to be until the parade finally rolls and it becomes one cohesive thing. The photo in the Rex den is like a coiled spring, and the photo by the river is me springing! With a float, the artists are hiding behind the surface. Costuming is one of the few creative experiences where I get to see people’s reactions in real time, but when I’m getting too much interaction, I can also hide behind the mask, trying to find that sweet spot.”
Caroline Thomas is Art Director at Royal Artists and lead painter of the Rex and Proteus carnival parades, pictured at work in the Rex den in 2022 and in costume at the Mississippi River on Mardi Gras day 2023.
“I’m in the Krewe of Armeinius, one of the oldest gay Mardi Gras krewes. Instead of a parade, we throw a ball. This blue costume was part of my tableau for the ball, but the tradition for the Krewe is to take our costumes out to the Bourbon Street Awards in the French Quarter on Mardi Gras day and show them off one more time, so it’s not six months to a year’s worth of work for just one night. The theme in 2020 was ‘The Time Ball.’ I have a three-foot TARDIS on my back, and the wavy blue and black piece has Roman numerals on it, so it’s the opening sequence of Doctor Who. And that costume won the Best Drag category. I won again in 2022! I started doing drag in 2018, and it has been going so well that I was able to leave the day job in public health, even though I loved the work, to do my art full time. Now the sweet spot for me is combining drag and public health!”
Debbie with a D (@debbiewithad) made this costume for her first performance in the Krewe of Armeinius bal masqué. Here, she is getting ready to host the Tuesday Open Talent night at Oz on Bourbon Street.
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Procreate is a powerful app for creatives using the iPad.
For creatives, having the right tools is important to ensure that hardware doesn’t get in the way of creating art and to ensure that they stay efficient. Technology and art, thanks to products like the iPad Pro and MacBooks, now go hand in hand, and the synergy can help artists explore new styles and express themselves more freely.
On these lines, Apple has been working with artists in India to show attendees of the India Art Fair 2024 how something like an iPad can be used to create artworks.
At the annual art event, Apple, along with four multidisciplinary artists, exhibited art revolving around the theme ‘Forces of Nature.’ These works have been created using either the iPad Pro or the MacBook Pro, or a combination of both.
Sadhna Prasad, one of the four artists, and a muralist and an illustrator, displayed her work titled ‘I’ll Be Back.’ “I want my audience to visit the world I create, and then come back and make a difference,” she said. For this work, Prasad used Procreate and Procreate Dreams on her iPad Pro to make large-scale murals.
The artwork shows two worlds: One is the result of unsustainable living, and the other is the outcome if humanity reforms its ways. Further, she also used the Artivive app to turn the mural into an augmented reality experience for the visitors.
Ameya Shinde and Aaron “Myles” Pereira are also artists who have used Apple’s tools to craft their artworks. Based on the ‘Forces of Nature’ theme, Shinde and Pereira’s artwork called ‘Ornithoscope’ is an audiovisual experience that lets the audience explore changes in India’s avian biodiversity over the last 15 years. And, it is built using the combination of MacBook Pro and the iPad Pro.
Another artist, Dhruv Jani, too, showcased what is possible with something as mobile as the MacBook Pro with the M3 Max chipset. He has created a game that sends players on a subterranean quest to discover the seed that spawned the Western Ghats mountain range.
Jani first builds textures on Adobe Photoshop, or hand-painting them with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro. And then, the workflow shifts to MacBook Pro, “where colourful and labyrinthine gamescapes are being built using 3D modelling tools like Substance and SketchUp.” Apple says that Jani then “compiles the game in the Unity3D game engine and precomputing light maps, with hardware-supported ray tracing to help create the game environment.”
The N&R Awards programme is an initiative set up by the WPO and Sony – to support local photographic communities around the world – with 54 countries taking part this year. Over 395,000 images from over 220 countries and territories were submitted
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