Art student Chiamaka Okenwa answers the question: “What goes through the mind of an artist before the birth of a true masterpiece?” This is a question that affects everyone, especially in today’s chaotic world where your identity is easily lost.
The answer to this question is the one that I have proposed to find in my visit to ‘Identidades’, an exhibition at Denk Spaces. At the entrance of the gallery there was an exhibition of the exhibiting artist Erasmus Onyishi. What at first appeared to be a mere tangle of cables and clutter took shape upon closer observation like a colony of ants marching up the wall. This mixed media piece, Openly Closed, was perhaps what opened our minds to the existence of other art forms besides realism, a concept to which we had been more or less closed.
As they entered the building, their eyes began to fill with astonishment. Each separate work was a colorful and lively expression of the same special theme: Identity. The exhibiting artists had identified themselves through their work by their choices of color, line, texture, and shape, and each work appealed to all of us in different ways. One of Henry Eghosa’s expressive works, depicting a woman in the process of dressing in traditional appeal, seemed to whisper, Our culture is our pride. Stephen Osuchukwu, in his dignified portrayal of a herd of elephants, focused on the elephant matriarch whose leadership position is almost synonymous with her identity. This female cow is the oldest and largest in the herd and is responsible for leading the herd of elephants. Its survival rests on its broad shoulders. As we reflect more deeply, we realize that, perhaps, we are a kind of matriarch when we are assigned leadership positions.
Obinna Makata, in her work Beauty Deeper than Cosmetics II, leads us to realize the need to maintain our own unique identities in a world where society dictates what to wear, how we should look, and ultimately who we become. Another work of his, On Race and Identity, tells us Africans that we don’t really conform to the label. [Black]But our identities are rainbows of colors, because there is a touch of something special in each and every one of us. His clever Ankara employment emphasizes individuality. Just as each Ankara pattern derives its beauty from its unique pattern, we also derive ours from our different identities.
Promise O’nali, whose novel style would identify him in the farthest corners of the world, gives us another version of the term, identity. Because who are we really? It is something to ponder deeply. His works, in a cold and simple way, induce the viewer to observe the complexity of man’s journey through life and the constant battle to maintain his true self.
At the end of this truly inspiring and revealing exposition, I came back almost on a different plane of mind. It had brought me a general lesson. In the words of Mr. Nnoli, “Art is always involved in our lives … It opens the door to our individual creativity.”
And indeed, it has really inspired me to open those doors and achieve magic in more creative ways.
