A prominent artist who once called Columbus home returned in July to give back to the community that nurtured his gift.
Born in Nigeria, Odili Donald Odita and his family fled the country to escape the Biafran war when he was a year old. They settled in Columbus, where he went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Ohio State University.
The 58-year-old artist, who now lives outside Columbus, has had his work shown internationally. Now Columbus residents can see it at Astor Park as part of its curated art program.
“I was asked to do an installation by Ron Pizzuti , who started collecting my work five to seven years ago. He came to me with a proposal to do a wall installation for the Columbus Crew’s stadium,” Odita said.
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Pizzuti is founder and chairman of The Pizzuti Companies , which funded the project along with the Greater Columbus Arts Council , city of Columbus, Haslam Sports Group and Edwards Family.