Monday, March 16, 2015

NEW YEAR, NEW WORK NEW VISION, NEW MEMORIES

Dear all,

Let me first say a very happy new year to you all since this is my first post of the year. 2014 ended on a great and positive note hence I am excited and enthusiastic about what 2015 will bring.

In the last two years, I began to devote the first month or two of a new year away from the studio, first to rest, reboot and then think about the months to follow. i am also learning to read more, well after hairvolution, it seems I have become more curious, and now I have more than enough questions unanswered.

Hairvolution took me on a search, a search for identity of my grandmother, then of myself. Now my curiosity beckons knowledge on man’s hybrid form, what is cultural hybridity?

Here is what I am reading at the moment:




Olu Oguibe’s culture Game is enlightening, it is basically a compilation of different papers he has written and presented in the past so the topics vary which makes the subject matter of the book not coherent, not withstanding because of its diversity on issues, it is a very handy book. I am presently reading the chapter titled Medium, Memory, Image and so far it discusses our obsession with memory ( my generation is guilty) compared to the generations who wanted to forget ( the amnesia generation) and how these impact on the art we make. Still reading...



The cute green book courtesy Asiko 2014 is very handy!! I think every artist should have a copy, great work Nana! Do you ever wonder what some famous and popular artists and creative people are reading? What informs their thoughts and their work? Yep that’s “An Ideal Library”.

I got that Manisfesta journal last year also courtesy Asiko, thank you CCA. Never really read it until now, you know how you flip through a book but never remember anything you read, that was what I did before but now based on the questions running through my mind, this is one to read. I was particularly drawn to the conversation between  Raima Gbadamosi and John Akomfrah.
Also somewhere in this hybrid phase, I read a bit of Senghor and watched the film Touki Bouki (please who has one with an English subtitle?)

Black skin, white Masks: wellll... I was only interested in chapter 3 titled The Man of Colour and the White Woman.

The book on Hair: for the pictures...



Now this magazine, I recommend this to every artist. The problem of the language of art: apparently this has been an issue for a very long time and Demas Nwoko ( Editor) tried to use this medium to alert artists into changing the language (idiom) of their art and not the art form itself, which a lot of artists are doing today, it's an amazing publication and still relevant today. This particular issue is dated 1978!!!!!

For this book and the others, you can visit the CCA, Lagos Library.

By and by I am excited about this year and I look forward to showing you some new work. But here is something I have started with as I deal on hybridity or the hybrid form.



Pen and collage drawing
11 x 14 inches

Thank you for reading!

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