LONDON, ENGLAND: A Maren Mjelde shirt, part of the Chelsea FC ‘This Game is What We Make It’ … More
Beginning today, a new exhibition at London’s Saatchi Gallery celebrates the 120th birthday of Chelsea Football Club and showcases the work of five new creative artists.
The club’s Foundation used the launch event of a three-day exhibition – This Game is What We Make It – to promote the five winners of a contest to find new creatives from a diverse background. In collaboration with media platform Versus, the Blue Creator Fund offered a prize of $26,000 to the winners and one-on-one advice from renowned designer Nicholas Davey. From 800 applicants, five were selected – Ebele Ojechi, Jerrell Cumberbatch, Gabin Kongolo, Letitia Inniss and Still Shadey.
Each is having their work showcased at the Saatchi Gallery alongside the club’s exhibition which mixes memorabilia with art and photography featuring players, fans and pop icons who have been associated with Chelsea like Madness, Paul Weller and Raquel Welch.
The women’s team, which has won the past five Women’s Super League titles, and is still on course to win a clean sweep of every trophy available to them this season, is suitably prominent in the exhibition.
A signed shirt from Chelsea’s first victory in the Women’s FA Cup in 2015, which was also the first-ever final played at Wembley Stadium, and Maren Mjelde’s shirt from the 2021 League Cup final stand alongside those of legends of the men’s team like Charlie Cooke, John Terry and Didier Drogba
One of the award winners was Ebele Ojechi, a British-born fashion designer of Nigerian descent. Inspired by classic Chelsea strips of the past, she created a capsule sportswear collection fusing together classic kit designs with elements of Igbo attire.
The result is “For the Glory”, based around concepts of ‘home’ and ‘away’ mirroring Nigerians experiences in London. Outside of England, Nigeria has the largest Chelsea fanbase of any other country in the world.
Unlike many women’s teams in England which have been criticised for not reflecting the communities they play in, Chelsea Women have always been a diverse team, currently employing female players from five continents.
“Chelsea’s women’s team is super-diverse,” Ojechi told me. “They are championing diversity I think with their squad. I’m really inspired by how humans come from different backgrounds and join one team. A lot of my work is inspired by different cultures and I find football teams are like a mixing pot of cultures from all over the world.”
Current stars Sandy Baltimore and Oriane Jean-François took part in the photo shoot for Ojechi’s range. Ojechi told me “it was amazing for them to come on board at the end to be part of the campaign and to celebrate Chelsea’s players from an African diaspora.”
“The most iconic shirt for me, and memorable for me in my life was the 1998/99 shirt. That’s what I’ve championed here with the dress. The dress is an upcycled version of it. Some of the pieces are made from upcycled current kits as well. That’s been the anchor of the whole collection, that sort of nineties period.”
As a mum, Ojechi has also taken inspiration from the many mothers who have returned from childbirth to represent Chelsea including former captain Katie Chapman and legendary head coach Emma Hayes. “Any mum who’s still doing it, after having kids, it’s not easy. When I see athletes it’s so inspiring because it’s not easy to balance it all. It’s hard to balance being with your kids and also committing to your career.”
Chelsea’s Katie Chapman celebrates with the trophy alongside team-mate Fran Kirby, and her son, … More
Ojechi explained to me what a difference the prize money will make to her. “Obviously making collections isn’t cheap. It was a really amazing way for me to get all my ideas out in one go and to work with different creators as well. I worked with a crochet artist, I worked with two other designers. It’s been an amazing opportunity, working with mentors and bouncing ideas off them. It’s been a blessing.”
CEO of the Chelsea Foundation Laura Cordingley told me “the Creator Fund is a program that’s designed to spot under-represented creatives. Sadly, if you’re from a minority ethnic background you’re less likely to be represented in this industry.”
“Diverse content creation captures hearts and minds. Part of the Blue Creator Fund is asking how do we celebrate young people from diverse backgrounds – particularly women and girls – and demonstrate that actually it’s not just about what happens on the pitch, it’s also what happens off the pitch.”
“The more we can do things like that, the more we can support young women and say that actually, if you love sport, you don’t have to be a footballer. There’s loads of other things you can do, you can work in the industry and part of what we will focus on even more as we move forward is how to support more women and girls to think about careers in football outside of what you see on the pitch.”
“Ebele has developed a sportswear collection which is amazing, definitely check it out and anyone who wants to visit the gallery, it’s definitely one of our must-sees. That is really exploring 120 years of club kit history and the club’s relationship with Nigeria as well.”
The ‘This Game is What We Make It’ exhibition is on at the Saatchi Gallery in London until March 24. Register your interest here.
