Apologies for this late post and aside falling ill and struggling to settle on a space for my show, I am happy to announce that the exhibition will open in November 2014 at the Whitespace located on Raymond Njoku off Awolowo way Ikoyi Lagos.
So here is the next recording from February of 2014.
20th Feb 2014
Due to the lack of information available on
Ayie( My father's mother), her absence creates room for a lot of possibilities in the work itself
but one must tread carefully not to get out of focus in the midst of having too many options.
It has become like a play
ground where a lot can be assumed, names, faces, events, if i were a writer,
there would be so many ways the story could be told, all I would need are
words. But how do I make up for these in art?
But for this first part of the
project that I see expanding into different channels, I think its
important that i focus on a certain person or at least create a LINEAR
TRAJECTORY, where does it start, so Ayie is that beginning.
I could focus on Ayie or Elena (another name I hear), then me and then a broader view of women through history,
whats the connection... There may exist similarities but that’s a lot to deal
with and nothing will be in focus... too broad...
There are many different levels to
this project and future projects are already evolving especially if I am able
to find a specific beginning.
So what do I really want?? The
primary reason for this project is to show where I am coming from as regards
this theme of hair which I have explored for the past few years. Also it must
show how society forced me to confront my history through a simple but powerful
question “Is this your hair?” hearing that question everyday for many years will do something to you and it is where I am now, searching for the answer to the
question that usually follows “where are you from?”
 |
| untitled: Collage drawing on tracing paper: 2014 : Taiye Idahor |
The crave for HAIR in Lagos...
I have lived in Lagos all my life
and women are just in love with their hair and other women’s hair, so it comes
with no surprise when I become the topic of discussion when I am in gatherings.
Observe how women are spending serious money and time and more time on their hair and here i
am having it for free... how dare I!
Who says skin colour or hair texture doesn't matter, lies you tell!!... the politics thatbe have re-branded! MASS MEDIA!!
I think beauty is another form of
colonization... yes I do!
For many years I was ignorant about
the question and I was never bothered after all I never knew her neither did my
father and the only person who did (or least that I’m sure knew her) was my
grandfather who died in August of 1972 before I was even born.
Ayie’s story is set in the colonial
time...
Through this project it will reflect
a broader picture of how society directs our minds, one learns what rejection
and pressure means.
The crave for beauty, how society
wants you to look a certain way. The same way repetition plays a major
influence on the minds of people which is what advertising does and
commercialism, I reuse this method of repetition to remain a memory in people’s
mind. And this originally came from the idea of reincarnation, a belief that is
strong with the Benin people and of which my parents believe in. My brother
is called Babatunde and although I am Taiye, not a name that symbolises
reincarnation, my father believes I am a reincarnation of his mother, and even
still my mother says I am a reincarnation of someone else.
Multiplicity has set in... being several people all in one!
