Chuma’s Waist Beads is an ongoing body of work created using the Igbo/West African Waist Beads (Mgbaji in Igbo) as the core medium, make a strong commentary on feminism, spirituality, and the diaspora culture of Igbos and West African nationalities.

Responding to ethnic discrimination occasioned by colonisation, the brutal Nigerian-civil war, sustained systemic marginalisation and unfair power structures, this body of work, constructed with waist beads cut from plexiglass waste, illuminate the collective Nigerian ‘japa’ experience – a direct result of years of bad leadership.

The Waist Beads body work forms a visual metaphor of how global migration destroys cultural practices and natural ecosystems, impacts indigenous Identities, and contribute to the global conversation on gender issues and racial inequality.