MASSAGES FROM WITHIN

M

STRIPPED STORIES

A BETTER YEAR

IT'S LIKE A RALLY

TRANSIENCE UNEARTHED, SIDE VIEW

TRANSIENCE UNEARTHED, BACK VIEW

TRANSIENCE UNEARTHED

TRANSIENCE UNEARTHED

This artwork, which consists of the torso of a kneeling nude woman with planted flowers growing out from her neck, stands at about 214cm x 110cm x 160cm, and is sculpted with the mixture of sand and clay. From the robust nature of her vigorously molded torso and thighs one can correctly assume that this figure belongs to either a fat woman or a woman in the early stages of pregnancy when weight gain becomes inevitable. The sprouting flower growing from her neck however suggests the latter. The figure has a meditative and playful poise and seems to inhibit a kind of surreal eloquence that evokes the impression that it is subtly and silently interacting with the environment in which it is placed. The natural and deliberately unfinished state of the work further reechoes this fact.
The style of the artwork is reminiscent of the ancient Greek style of sculpting their god of beauty Venus. Nevertheless it is fertility and not beauty that is emphasized here. The figure along the lines of its well thought out and stubbornly executed configuration, the masterful combination of earth and plant, mirrors the union, the bond that exists between our inner selves and our heartbeat, the personality and the attitude that is exhibited as a result of that personality. Furthermore, the host of living plants also informs us of the possibility of new life and the transient passage of time.

sterms

Eku-ite-garri

the little humps of semi-cylindrical clay forms, littered all over every available space in the exhibition ground are replicas of the homemade apparatus used by peasant women to shield and control the fumes drifting off the firewood burning under the pan while frying garri.
The making of the clay humps, which is known in the igbo language as eku-ite garri, is considered a masculine task usually carried out by the boy(s) in the household, while the frying of the garri itself is done mainly by the mothers of the house due to the certain degree of expertise, patience and experience required its execution. The entire process of local garri production identifies one of the rare occasions in rural Nigerian setting where the bond between mothers and their sons are lauded and encouraged by the society, since it is the usual norm that mothers stay with their daughters in the kitchen while fathers go to the farm, fish or hunt with their sons. With the radical influx of technological development in the society and its resultant cultural interchange, the chore of processing garri is now becoming obsolete and thus leading to the slow eradication of one of the few stimuli that encourages and deepens that mother-son relationship. Juvenile delinquency in the society is now on the up rise, what with the tirade of negative influences from the vulgar associations with street gangs and most private media.