“For me, working on recreating those images of beauty that I find around me, in those busy and lively towns of Africa such as Abidjan and Accra, is also a way of breaking the misconception that you can only find poetry in ordered, clean and solitary places.” -Joana Choumali⁠ ⁠ ⁠ At a time when innermost thoughts are shared with anyone and everyone on social media, and entirely new lives can be constructed and lived online, Joana Choumali’s mixed media embroidery works are like a “quiet diary.” Influenced by the urban light and environs of early morning walks, Trapped Soul shows a young person several stories tall, leaning casually against a building as the light from a mobile phone envelopes their entire face.⁠ ⁠ Pictured: Joana Choumali, Trapped Soul, 2019, Mixed media and collage on digital photograph printed on canvas, with chiffon and tulle embroidery⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #joanachoumali #embroidery #mixedmedia #contemporaryart #21cartist