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Arit Emmanuela Etukudo born Joy Emmanuela Arit Etukudo is a Nigerian American AfroFuturist artist whose work focuses on ideas of self, identity and the life experience. She uses self-portraits to create Moving image installations and digital collage work that expresses the different worlds that her experiences have created within her and how she sees the world.

Early life
Arit Emmanuela Etukudo was born in Laurel Maryland in 1994. When she was 7 years old she and her family relocated to Nigeria, where they lived until 2007. In 2007 she returned to the United States of America where she graduated from Bowie High School in 2011. She attended Towson University, Bowie State University and finally University of Baltimore County where she graduated in 2016 with a BA in Cinematic Arts and a Minor in Creative Writing. In 2017 she moved to Nottingham, England where she attended Nottingham Trent University and received her MFA in Fine Arts. While in Europe, she participated in an Erasmus program where she lived in Le Mans, France for 6 months and attended Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts, TALM.

Artistic career
Etukudo began her creative practice as a writer and filmmaker. Her writing was published in various literary journals including Bartleby, Ramona Magazine and Distinguished Diva. She also wrote short plays, one of which was produced by Interrobang Theater Company. While her films went on to be screened and nominated at various festivals including; The Best of Baltimore Film Festival, Lightstruck Film Festival and Rabbit Heart Poetry Festival. In 2016, her film "Blackbird" won Best Experimental/Animated Film at DC's Indie Capital Awards. During her MFA studies, she combined her past background in film, theater, creative writing and photography to form her contemporary art practice. Some of her exhibitions include: AfterMath (Nottingham Contemporary, UK), UnrulyBodies (Stevenson Galleries, USA) and NAE open (New Art Exchange, UK), Waiting to become: Images from a dream state (Attenborough Arts Center) and NAE open (New Art Exchange).