Five Solos and a Tale of Eco-feminism

Yinka Olatunbosun

Defying the downpour, visitors were ushered into the recent VIP opening of the group show Five Solos at the Apapa, Lagos-based art gallery, Q-Gallery. The show, which showcases three female and two male artists, is yet another effort by the gallery to amplify nature, push against gender barriers, and bridge the age barriers of exhibiting artists. A walk-in experience brought to view the works of 74-year-old Veronica Ogene, a retired civil servant whose canvasses parade some abstract paintings inspired by mud and clay colours. Her stint in South Korea after retirement served as an eye-opener, and subsequently, she began to work with charcoal and, much later, paint. From painting as a pastime, she advanced to being an exhibiting artist who is capable of making moments still for every viewer.

With Taiye Erewele, it was quite natural to tap into her flair for feminine beauty, design, and stories of African women. Her personal experience is broad, given her background of being raised in different parts of the country. Her first 16 years were spent in Kano, and she later completed her BA in fine arts from Ambrose Alli University in 2008 as the Faculty of Art’s best graduating student. Later, she obtained an MA in Visual Arts from the University of Lagos. This experimental artist, whose figures are dark-skinned, spoke about her technique and style as well as the inspiration behind the five pieces.

“I am a storyteller; I tell stories of the female gender,” she said. “That’s what I try to portray in my works. My body of work is titled ‘Enchanted.’ The striking thing about my paintings are the pose, gesture and the eyes. I like to show the mood of my subject so that you can put yourself in the shoes of the subject. I want the viewer to imagine that this is who they are.”

The works capture the varied emotions in the different phases of a woman’s life: when she’s in love, when she is anticipating love, and when she is happy and confident regardless of her relationship status.

For Grace Igbavbota, art is a mirror that reflects its environment. Using mainly oil paint on textured canvas and denim jeans, she gives the viewer a taste of her representational impressionism. The 2015 graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University is also influenced by her late mother and Afrocentric modernisation.

Through his choice of materials, another experimental artist, Nzekwe, addresses the effects of mass consumerism resulting in the over-exploitation of natural resources. Using eco-friendly wood and discarded materials, his art highlights issues such as climate change, freedom of expression, and child rights, among others.

While exploring nature through his landscape paintings, Joseph Ayelero draws upon life in the suburbs as the subject of his creative pieces. The multimedia artist who studied general art at the Yaba College of Technology develops from the imaginary to the real world.

The radical feminist and leading female artist, Juliet Ezenwa Pearce, brought textured works on canvas to the show. The pieces are the product of her experimental work in printmaking—a spinoff of her knowledge of producing masks, masquerades, and installations. The show marks the first time this particular body of work will be exhibited by the artist.

“I wanted to show masquerades but I was afraid that it might frighten some people,’’ Pearce said.  “So, I’d rather show the textured works which are more of abstracted forms generated from the making of the female masquerades. It came out like that. Art consumers who do not want figurative but abstract works like these would be appealed to. The idea is to inspire thoughts and ideas. I have been doing this masquerade-themed pieces for more than seven years.”

For her, producing female masks and masquerades is her way of showing resistance to the erasure of female representation in African art as well as the patriarchal system of governance and living in African culture.

“It is my opinion that there is some misogynistic content driving this patriarchy that is constructed against women. It comes off as hatred for the feminine. The rivers are considered feminine; they are called goddesses. It is my research to know how we left the pre-colonial worship of the river goddesses, where the rivers were sacred, to the present-day situation where we now throw trash into the rivers. Is this practise related to hatred for women?” she asked rhetorically.

Pearce has also edited two books on Nigerian art, namely Issues in Contemporary Nigerian Art, the first and second series.