Facing the realities of life as one of eight children of a single mother in his native Nigeria, Ephraim Urevbu dedicated himself to education as the key to success. He attended Africa’s oldest art college, in Lagos, Nigeria. After graduation, his passion for art led him to America and to the city of Memphis. In 1994, his search for a space to create a sixty-by-eighteen-foot commissioned artwork led him to a dilapidated building on South Main Street in downtown Memphis. He bought and refurbished the building and founded Art Village Gallery. This led to the establishment of a vibrant arts district for the Bluff City in the shadow of the National Civil Rights Museum. Art has served as a bridge from Urevbu’s past to his present and has enabled him to overcome poverty and seemingly impossible cultural and familial barriers and build a career in art. The hardened realities of black life in America, the challenges of racism, and a private battle against cancer have gifted him with a unique and compassionate voice that is on display in his newest collection of works, The Naked Truth, which can be seen on his website EphraimUrevbu.com.