Nyemike Onwuka’s ‘Exodus’, an
exhibition of paintings, mixed media and installations, was not just
about the survivors of the 21st century slavery or its perpetrators, but
was also about how the artist feels the need to depict the ordeal of
survivors, writes Mary Ekah
Although Nyemike Onwuka’s exhibition,
titled ‘Exodus’ held recently at the Signature Art Gallery, Awolowo
Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, basically examined the experience of victims of the
21st century slavery and the effect of these experiences on the
survivors, it further exposed viewers to drawings, paintings, mixed
media, installations and performance art on the subject as the artist
employs different media to drive home his message and feeling on the
subject.
Onwuka, who holds an HND from the Federal
Polytechnic Auchi where he majored in Painting, explores dynamism of
eye pencil, liquid latex and oil bars in creating works with
extraordinary aesthetic component and depth. In his just concluded
exhibition, he introduced the use of stencil in depicting patterns,
words and symbols to tackle the social decadency affecting women and
children around the world today.
Onwuka in his this exhibition exhumed
this contemporary slavery narratives expressed in parts by his
application of different techniques to distinguish the thought process.
In the contemporary society, the artist’s new offering in his last
exhibition, calls for a conversation on the rights and value of true
freedom in such a way that it celebrates the women and children.
“This represents the survivor of the 21st
century slavery, that is what this, is all about and like we all know,
women and children are more vulnerable when it comes to abuse. That is
why I am using more of women and children in these works,” he explained.
The 21st century slavery, he said was
often traced to the abuse of the rights of women and children in
contemporary societies. “Uneducated children are often the targets and
many are guilty as underage children were employed as house helps for
whatever reason.”
The artist also sees trafficking as a
form of modern slavery that thrives under a form of secrecy and a lost
of human conscience and morality where the woman becomes a commodity, a
property that yields returns to her owners in a systematic form of
imprisonment. These owners who have commoditised these women, he said,
often put a brand of ownership on them.
These brands are hidden in the form of
tattoos and fashionable markings, which might often be a source of
embarrassment to the women. He portrays this in the series called, ‘Oath
Keepers’. With his new experiment, the artist introduces the ‘Hidden
Brands’ used by sex traffickers in sophisticated societies. His research
on the subject has also informed the subtle placement of these hidden
brands as signs and embellishments with coats of happy colours.
Oath Keepers is an argument on consent
and pretense. Onwuka argues that it is a kind of rite passage activity
for most traffickers in Africa where no one seeks to help you
financially without asking you to swear an oath. He further submits that
there is more unsaid by the victims than known, adding that testimonies
abound of victims who have lost their lives when they break the oath in
rebellion.
“The Hidden Brand series emanated from my
personal encounter with an ex- branded prostitute in New York. There is
a bar in New York where my friend and I used to hang out after we have
done all the work for the day. There were a lot of ladies working in the
bar but there was something about this particular one – beautiful
aural, good-looking lady and well mannered. She just drew my attention
and we became friends. Normally when I see guys and ladies with tattoos,
I make comments, they are usually excited and want to talk about it but
for this lady, she wasn’t excited about hers and was so reluctant to
talk about it. But when we got more familiar, she now told me about the
history of her tattoo.
She told me the secret behind some
tattoos and she opened up a whole lot of things about branded
prostitutes. That was like three years ago and that was when I started
the research. She told me that her boyfriend then deceived her into
branding her to work for his gang, so that wherever she goes to, they
can always fish her out. She went further to say that a lot of ladies
who were so branded have tried to escape but as long as they remain in
the United States or neighbouring countries, they would always fish them
out because the logo they carry as tattoos are very well known among
this gang.
She said she can only be freed if she
cleaned off the tattoo through a medical process which is usually very
expensive,” Onwuka noted, adding however that his next exhibition will
be held in New York, where the proceeds from the exhibition would be
given out to an organization in New York, which focuses on resuscitating
such women who are so caged so that they can find a way to set
themselves lose from such slavery.
Another series at the exhibition that
focused on the plight of children in the 21st century slavery and also
evoked so much emotion was ‘We see, We speak, We hear, We conquer’.
Here, the dark paints grated on Onwuka’s usual grungy canvas finish with
close up figures of children expressive poses. This also throws light
on the current global talks about child security and the Chibok girls
readily come to mind with these works – the release of the 21 girls and
the hesitation of the other children to return home to their parents and
loved ones because they have been scarred by force marriage, pregnancy
and abuse, raises a concern for the future of the girl-child in
developing societies.
In this exhibition, Onwuka take on the
narratives of emancipation with a rather contemporary approach, lending
new techniques to his already famous gritty patches on canvas. He tells
his story of emancipation and metamorphosis in a very systematic way.
First, a black cage as an installation piece, welcomes the viewers.
This cage house a number of found items
such as school bags, children’s school sandals and shoes, strips of
different colours hanging from the roof of the cage, articles of
clothing to symbolise feminism. This exposes a metaphorical trap of
cognitive freedom, infringed civil rights, political disenfranchisement,
girl-child endangerment, denial of girl education and so many possible
insinuations.
From this heavy–laden cage full of found
objects and oddities, fossilised footprints pasted on the floor from the
cage lead viewers to the artworks hung in display on the walls, which
now represent the emancipated women and children once bound by grief and
burden of slavery.
For Onwuka, combining the need to evolve
as an artist with the need to express his feelings has brought about the
body of works, which he calls ‘Exodus’. “In this collection, I have
opted to explore a more colourful approach to painting, combined with my
use of latex and figurative representation of the subjects and ‘Exodus’
has proven to be a different experience altogether in creation and in
viewing,” the artist noted.
The need to further strengthen his
message, prompted Onwuka’s extensive research which led to his use of
bold texts, that is, alphabets, numbers and shapes patterns in his
artworks with the major aim of entertaining and more especially,
pleasantly sensitise his audience on the subject of 21st century slavery
survivors.
Exodus is synonymous with Onwuka’s
artistic evolution; from his experimental/figurative platform he
sprouted the distinctively unique style of elegant urban decay. Once
again, we see today a style driven on progressive transitional journey
using text and patterns ingeniously to project his thoughts onto canvas
and also to embellish. The evolution of art is a result of
experimentalists of the art world, a mind class of artists, which Onwuka
over the years has proven to belong to.
According to the Director of Signature
Gallery, Chief Rahman Akar, Onwuka’s ability to tell stories with his
expressionistic painting style exhibits a deep level of understanding of
his crafts. “No doubt the combined mix of curiosity, art education and
exposure are key contributing factors to his unique style as an
artists,” Akar added.
For the Curator, Signature Gallery, Burns
Effiom, the artist creates a stew of 3-dimensional installation and
2-dimensional paintings to height both his visual and colour language,
resulting in an intense and powerful message.
‘Exodus’ therefore presented works that
are pleasurable to look at as figurative, as urban realism yet
symbolising struggles. This is an excellent application of a post-modern
technique in arguing contemporary issues.
Through a skillful combination of
neo-cubistic sensibilities, traditional painting techniques and new
media technologies, Onwuka views his subject and contest, using
installation to capture and represent their situation as a screen so
that the viewers can explore the image and also access the path in which
the artist has chosen. The materials and process of labour amounts to a
kind of index of hope using letters scattered over the canvasses almost
insignificantly as shorthand to achieve deep tooted aspiration of hope.
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