JOURNEY MERCIES
In 2021, Ken Nwadiogbu moved to London with a desire to grow as a Visual Artist. This inspired him to explore migration in his work. He began creating works that used his personal experience as a reflection of the broader immigrant story.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
2024
This digital application reacts instantly to sound using the principles of Conway's Game of Life. When you speak, your voice generates a cell that multiplies, triggering a chain reaction. It's a visual metaphor for the power of our voice, where a single word can ripple outward and reshape reality.
These cells are faces from the boxes in Journey Mercies. So when you speak, you're not just moving these cells, you're moving humanity. This work is a reminder that our voices matter. That by speaking up, we can create change, not just for ourselves, but for the people around us.
ALL FOR ONE
2023
Ken has always looked for ways to invite people to participate. That's what led him to reimagine Journey Mercies as a game.
In this game, no single piece moves alone. For one piece to shift, seven others must move with it. It's a system built on interconnectedness. Just like community. Every move we make affects those around us, and only through cooperation and unity do we get closer to our goal.
THE NFT COLLECTION
2022
Ken began to explore digital collage, blending painting and video in a way that allows both mediums to sync and inform one another.
That exploration became the foundation of a collaboration with Nifty Gateway, one of the most established NFT platforms in the space. Together with Retro Africa gallery, they released an exclusive digital collectible that reimagines Journey Mercies for the digital world.
JESUS OF LÜBECK
2022
A deep blue fisherman’s canoe with rich adire patterns, is filled with cardboard boxes. These boxes act as metaphors for African migrants who risk everything in search of safety and opportunity. The canoe draws inspiration from the Jesus of Lübeck, one of the earliest slave ships to cross the Atlantic.
In the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos, Nigeria in 2022
A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER
2021
Ken was inspired to take Journey Mercies beyond gallery walls and into movement itself. This led to his collaboration with Flight Logistics, a shipping company that specializes in transporting valuable and fragile items.
For this collaboration, a Volkswagen van was wrapped with an image of the installation and allowed to move across London. The van, like the installation, represents movement and the unseen forces that shape where we go and what we become.
JOURNEY MERCIES
2021
This installation uses the cardboard box as a powerful symbol of migration. It mirrors the migrant experience, the way we pack up our lives and carry our stories with us.
Beyond that, Journey Mercies is about community. Made up of over 100 individual 40 × 40 × 40 cm boxes, the installation takes on endless forms. At every exhibition, curators are free to arrange the boxes however they choose. This is symbolic. Through this, we are reminded that we, too, are the architects of our communities.