Feeding The Flame in the Rain

By Udemma Chukwuma

Chidimma Urunwa Ikegwuonu, a dedicated Nigerian-born visual artist, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, has emerged as a strong voice in the contemporary art scene. Her works attract local and international audiences to her exploration of identity, culture and feminism.

Working primarily with oil paint on canvas, her unique style invites viewers to engage with her work for a number of reasons. Her masterful use of oil paint entails a manipulation of rich layering to create textures that enhance emotional depths in her pieces. “Two striking pieces in her recent body of works titled: When Gods Were Women and She Who Became Earth, depict an imagination and expressive skill capable of exploring the surreal.

Ikegwuonu definitely had story to tell in She Who Became Earth. But the piece is unyielding to a single-story narrative as it easily strikes a painterly conversation with the viewer thus throwing up versions of its own narrative. The painting features a woman adorned in a gorgeous red silk dress that sets off her shimmering brown skin like a frozen taunt of caramel sweets. Accompanying her are two female nude figures, one with her back turned to the viewer and the other facing forward, their nude bodies reflecting tints of scarlet glow borrowed from the flamboyant red silk dress of the central figure. To deepen the surreality of this piece, Ikegwuonu merged her human form with nature. The two women’s heads unfurled into trees. The overall colour outlay of the canvas captures a background of green foliage and thicket and an emotionally charged foreground of red grasses. She masterfully blended her human figures in subtle brown intercourse of background and foreground. Shades of green extends from the waist to the knee, upper bodies- from the waist up, are a dark brown, while their legs, from the knee to the ankle, are a vibrant red, blending into the red grass of the surrounding environment.

The setting shows the beauty of a lush forest, enriched by the presence of the three female figures. She Who Became Earth can be described as a visual poetry about the power and femininity of mother earth. “I paint women as more than just bodies. I see them as symbols of history, tradition, and quiet strength.”
When Gods Were Women is heralded by the head of a light pink horse. If colours were sounds, this icon is a bell. The pink horse immediately draws the viewer’s attention to the painting and as soon as you draw closer, a woman adorned in lemon dress with a spider-web hair accosts you. It’s her fairy world. The horse speaks to the gracefulness, strength and endurance of the woman. Its pinkness, her femininity. The male figure with stretched neck and tree head standing beside her is entranced as his stretched neck attests to a captive admiration of the woman whose beauty and attraction cannot be unseen amidst a busy scene awash with colours and myriad attractions. Lemon green bespeaks the dominance of her beauty at the heart of this carnivalesque fiesta of captivating pageantry.
When Gods Were Women and She Who Became Earth have some mystique about them that lingers. They deepen the viewer’s respect for the woman, inspire recollections of her roles in history, spirituality, mythology and contemporary life.

A significant source of inspiration for Ikegwuonu comes from the experiences of her mother whose struggle in the face of adversity shaped her artistic character. She revealed that her work is inspired by her own life as a young Igbo woman from Eastern Nigeria. “Growing up, I saw my mother struggle and stay strong, even when we had very little. We moved a lot. We lost our home. But we held on. These moments are part of me and they show up in my art.” This maternal influence remains a source of empowerment that reflects in her pieces, a discursive tribute to women in society.

Aside from exploring identity, culture and feminism, Ikegwuonu, without a doubt, loves nature hence she prominently features lush landscapes, rich forestation, and mountains in her work. In What Remains When Memory Grows Back, she explores the concept of converse reality by depicting a subject with its head upside down, a proposition of a perspective on the nature of memory.

In the Beginning She Was the Soil portrays a scene of motherhood. Here, a woman is breastfeeding a baby while seated on the ground. Gathered behind her are women and children, observing the age-old ritual of nurturing and sustenance. This piece emphasizes the vital role women play within their families and communities, drawing a parallel between the life-giving qualities of women and the earth itself. “The women in my paintings carry stories, some painful, some beautiful. They are connected to nature, sometimes broken, sometimes blooming. I use symbols like roots, vines, and wings to show how women grow, fight, and sometimes feel trapped.”

As societal conversations surrounding gender identity and role grow increasingly critical, she is utilizing her art as a vehicle for advocacy: “For me, art is not just about beauty. It’s a way to speak when words are not enough,” she explained. “It’s a way to remember, to heal, and to ask questions.” She asserts: “my art does not ask for pity. It asks people to see, to feel, and to care. I want those who look at my work to recognize a part of themselves or someone they love because understanding starts with empathy, and empathy can lead to change.”

Ikegwuonu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine and Applied Arts (Painting) from the University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria. Her development as a painter was further shaped through years of dedicated studio practice, including a six-month internship at the Universal Studio of Art, Iganmu, Lagos, where she refined her technical skills and deepened her understanding of professional artistic practice. Pursuing further education, she earned a Master’s degree in the United Kingdom, which expanded her conceptual approach to painting and solidified her main medium, oil on canvas.

She has participated in several exhibitions at home and abroad, with the most recent being THE F WORD exhibition in London, She continues to develop a body of works that is both visually arresting and thematically rich. Influenced by a diverse range of artists from old masters such as Frida Kahlo to contemporary figures like Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Ming Ying. Through her personal inspiration, literary influences, and socio-political engagement, Ikegwuonu is not only contributing to contemporary art but also shaping a movement as she continues to evolve as an artist. Commenting on the artists she admires, she declared: “These artists remind me that storytelling through art can be both personal and political, both quiet and loud.”

Through the exploration of identity, nature, and the feminine experience, Ikegwuonu affirms with each new project, that she would remain committed to advancing her craft, pushing boundaries and offer new perspectives on contemporary issues. The timbre in her voice can only grow more stringent.