Simple maths: If a=b Then b=a

It's been a busy few weeks, trying to finish the works and at the same time doing all the organisation as well, it's just the reality of being an artist here in Nigeria, hence the late post so I apologize. 

Also I would like to officially invite you to the exhibition, everything is almost set and here is the invitation and I look forward to seeing you there. It runs for 3 weeks so there's plenty time to stop by. There is also another blog I created specifically for the show where the works can be previewed just in case you are unable to come see it. I will try my best to be at the gallery everyday after the show opens, please feel to contact me when you want to visit so I can give you a tour.

Anyway here are two more recordings and I would have to make up for the posts that should have been up already.

21^st February 2014

I have been looking for answers since last year when I decided to work on this as a project on Ayie and now its February yet nothing, will this project start?? But I need to start so instead of answers, I move forward with questions, I don’t know where to begin, I know nothing, my mind is empty??

So I’m thinking about sculptures, how do you make a sculpture of a person you have never seen? Where do I begin, where’s the starting point?

Working in the studio last week

24^th Feb 2014 (I start to create the first portrait, the one you see in the invitation)

The portrait I am creating with the weaves, create a certain movement that seem ... amoebic in form

My hair is my connection to Ayie and my daily and constant reminder and sometimes a burden. 

More and more I love the endless possibilities of news-prints and this is a performance in itself, when its woven, I take away its voice so it doesn't speak then it becomes just a tool, I give it a new voice.

She once came, there must be information about her somewhere but I can’t find it, the woven newsprint is visible, you can identify it but you can’t read it...

And just allowing the woven paper travel on the canvas in different directions just shows you how my mind is travelling creating many “maybe” situations.

A pa says I'm his mother, he calls me mummy sometimes, he says she reincarnated through me...

I am using this idea or concept of reincarnation to represent multiplicity, being 2 people in 1 body. Its like a maths equation that says if a=b then b=a

Hence my pictures can be pictures of her, and I now begin to take her form and begin to take over these questions that I am asking about her, so now I ask myself what is my name, where am I from, what do I look like? Etc

I was probably on facebook or instagram

Thank you for stopping by, more info soon and please share if you will!

Free Hair...How Dare I!!!

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.

20^th 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!

Questioning Yourself About Yourself

A voice record log from February

There have been many inconsistencies in the stories I have heard surrounding the circumstances of my father’s birth and this is very discouraging in the process of this project. How do I begin to fill the blank space and emptiness and get answers to many questions I have, as I embark on this journey into the history of my family. There’s nothing to connect her with or to its almost as though she never existed. 

Simple questions like what was her name, who was her family, where she was from...

“Where” brings me to the idea of maps and contours... assuming and expressing possibilities of the “where”?

What did she look like? Brings me think about portraits and faces, they would be propositions of an identity. I stared playing with shifts like the one in our Ankara fabrics, yes those involuntarily mistakes that became a trend.

How do I express an imperfectness, an incompleteness... loss, vacuum...

As I begin to ask these questions I am trying to ask myself the same, not yet though, but I am thinking about why I am not asking myself these questions, and that is because I assume I know the answers. But do i really? 

Untitled drawing and collage. 2014

What is her name

Where is she from

What did she look like

Did she marry and have other children

What was the colour of her hair

Was she tall

Was she white

Why did she leave

Did she come back

Did she try to find her son

These same questions I ask about her is what I am beginning to ask myself, who am I? Where am I from, What do I look like, What do I like?

A series a questions as simple as they are, will eventually matter in staying relevant in time, questions I should ask myself in order not to disappear. 

There is a certain fear that looms around, the fear of not wanting to be forgotten, and now consciously I feel the need to write myself into history, trying to exist by force, writing my name and fixing myself into time, its by force oo.

Women need to begin to question themselves about themselves. 

From my mother’s side on the other hand, my mother could narrate the history of her family from both her mother’s side and father’s side, the road they treaded, the journeys they made, they children they had, the houses they lived in, the food they ate, all in words. But not many have heard these stories...

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Present Reality

I changed my mind about the images, the selected image form part of a series of drawings and collages I am currently making for an installation piece. So I have decided I will include one or two of these drawings in each post. They are about a4 sized and the more I draw, the larger the installation, its better you see each one individually cos when they are brought together... ok I don't know, let's see how it works out.

Thanks for stopping by and do come again! ( They say that in stores?!)
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Is this an Identity Crisis?

February 05 2014

Ayie is a symbolic representation of women who have experienced some disconnect from history for different reasons. For Ayie it was presumably family, her father they say. She represents women willing to take control, to be noticed, its not about rebellion or fighting, but just choosing to exist, accepting who we are. 

The role of men and women differ they have never been the same, it is not a contest.

Women want to be noticed, to be spoken about, referenced but I doubt the definition of this statement is consistent as we move from woman to woman. 

http://addictivelists.com/top-10-trendiest-outfits-for-women-in-2014/

For the most times, its a case of temporal fame and hype then you cease to exist beyond the moment, but one has to keep up with a certain trend or facade to remain relevant or at least visually present; to what gain, is another topic entirely. 

Ayie speaks to women who have abandoned themselves in search of unrealistic and dreamlike inventions and definitions of a woman fed by mass media, magazines, television...

Colonization continues but willingly we have accepted and worn the chains ourselves.

If you have any questions or comments as regards this post please share on this facebook link, blogspot has issues with commenting and even replying comments can be a hassle. 

Thank you for reading!! Please like my Facebook page and please feel free to share. Thanks

NOTE: my words and thoughts are not set in stone but are daily being shaped by events or new discoveries.

New PROJECT in Progress!

At last I am happy to announce that my new project is in progress and my blog will get active again, thank goodness. Don't get me wrong, I have been working oo, I just haven’t connected enough to the things I have been doing not because I didn't believe in them but rather I lacked understanding but I knew what I was doing I just didn’t have the words or probably not bold enough to share.

My new project... wait should I call it new???

I haven’t moved away from what I have been doing but the work has definitely evolved and so has my thinking these days. So it isn’t exactly new but I would say it started last year, thinking through it, experimenting;which I love to do, playing with materials and possibilities.

I hope I can show the work this year, planning a show in Lagos is so expensive, sponsorship is hard to find but I have postponed it long enough and I will show it by hook or by crook, my last resort... : I show it here on this blog, I’m tired of waiting for all conditions to be right, this Nigeria, nothing is ever perfect!

Anyway since last year I have been making voice recordings about what I have been thinking about and what I want from the project. I started this way because first of all it’s about my grandmother who’s identity is unknown and I had nothing to work from and in order to start, words were all I had. I didn’t start making actual work till this year maybe like in March or so, before then I was experimenting or should I saying playing with objects and reading but its those ideas I am using now.

So one by one I will post these ramblings which I have typed out. I do not like the sound of my voice hence I will not post the actual recording. And besides I was making zero sense most of the time and I repeated a lot of things which is fine. No art starts out perfect, you learn to find yourself gradually, hence consistency is key. I know a lot of people don’t understand what I do, or why I do what I do, you’re not alone. I’m learning but my work has never come from thin air that I can promise you, there is always an anchor to connect with, which is why I am really excited about this project as it does bring to light more understanding of my past work and maybe future works.

I won’t be posting any images at all till exhibition time. I’ll tell you why.

I want you to feel what I experienced in making this work (frustration mostly), having words and no physical objects to back up any claims to the stories I was told. This was my struggle, how do I take words and turn them to art, physical tangible art.

Please try and follow my ramblings, at the beginning I wasn’t making sense but as it progresses, you would see and understand better (I hope) what my work is about, you will see what I am reading and understand how I am choosing to shape my mind. Yes its a choice!!

May I also add that my stay in Dakar during the biennale and the Asiko programme ( I will post something on that soon ) really influenced my thought process, they helped give volume to the thoughts I had already. Like I said earlier, I know what I am doing but I just didn’t have that cushion to bounce off my thoughts. How does one reference, who or what is a “valid” reference were major issues I had.

I have been able to find people through books that are thinking on the same ideas I have,  and not just anyone, but people from the same cultural background. No offense to western artists but as a Nigerian artist living on the continent of Africa, it would only make sense to lean towards the cultural ideals of my location and identity. This is what encourages me that I am making sense hence that built my confidence in forging ahead with the work. 

Like Olu Oguibe said in his book The Culture Game, and I quote: 

“To perpertualy counter a center is to recognize it. In other words discourse- our discourse- should begin to move in the direction if dismissing, at least in discursive terms... ” 

The centre I use in this work is mostly based on my family’s stories, and I am confident that is enough to build on.

Enough said and probably enough questions created as well. First post starts tomorrow and continues weekly till I show the work ( so help me God).

If you have any questions or comments as regards these posts please share on this facebook link, blogspot has issues with commenting and even replying comments can be a hassle. 

Thank you for reading!! Please like my Facebook page and please feel free to share. Thanks

NOTE: my words and thoughts are not set in stone but are daily being shaped by events or new discoveries.

Curating and Art

Recently the exhibition "Playing with Chance" opened at the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos where I work part time. It was a privilege and honour to curate the work of international artist El Anatsui alongside international curator Bisi Silva who is also the director at CCA,Lagos. I usually don't share work stuff here but I just had to, how many times do you get to curate the work of such a great artist and along side a great curator, I'm honoured and blessed! Thank you Bisi Silva for the opportunity.

 

Taiye, El and Bisi

For those who have met El Anatsui before you would know he is a man who doesn’t say much about his work (but with a good sense of humour) but it seems he has his moments when he does although they are rare. Even in his interviews he really doesn’t say much. But don’t be fooled there’s a lot going on within him and it is all laid bare through this exhibition.

 

The show opened on Friday 14th March 2014 to celebrate the artist's 70th birthday and it takes an archival route. Rather than focusing on the finished works of the artist, we show sketches, drawings, and (insightful) letters relating to most of his works we know today. Who keeps hand written letters from over 20 years ago??? What of pay slips from his teaching years at Nnsuka?? Its all laid bare at CCA,Lagos.

 

Who knew he was a painter? what about his famous "Broken Pots" series bet you never heard of those. Also on display is “fold crumble crush” a documentary on El Anatsui, interviews, as  well as images of his paintings and broken pots series, much earlier works from the artist. We also had the privilege of loaning one of his earliest works from 1973 and 1974: his trays, from the collection of Omooba Yemisi Shyllon.

 

Also in the exhibition is the work of 3 of his students when he was a teacher at the university Nnsuka (he was more a teacher than a lecturer it seems) Nnenna Okorie, Lucy Azubuike and Amarachi Okafor, women doing great work in the art scene today.

El Anatsui has been an inspiration to me for a long time, he was one of the first artists I came to know about when in Yabatech so having access to his archive and fliping through his sketch books has been an amazing experience (they are in glass boxes for the show and cannot be touched, that is the advantage of being a curator and working with Bisi Silva hehehe).

 

I doubt any other space in the “world” has had this kind of opportunity like CCA,Lagos to show this amount of archival material in one space from this amazing artist, in books maybe, but not firsthand (please correct me if I’m wrong). Hence I urge everyone to see this show before it ends on the 12^th of April. Like I have been telling everyone I invite; it isn’t a “breeze through” exhibition, you need to dedicate some good hours to see this show. After you see it, you would experience El Anatsui and his work in a completely different light and even fall in love with his works if you weren’t before.

 

Chatting with El... he's gat jokes

 

Again I feel really blessed. It was a lot of work putting it together and I really didn’t think it would make such an impact while we set it up, but after the opening, that was when I realized that I shouldn’t take it likely. Infact I realised a lot shouldn’t be taken likely, people we meet, relationships we have, places we go, nothing should be taken likely but appreciated by taking advantage of or acted upon.

By the first day, half of the brochures were gone; everyone wanted a poster , just anything from this artist.

 

It has indeed been an amazing experience.

 

CCA,Lagos is located at 9 McEwen Street Sabo Yaba, Lagos Nigeria. Visit www.ccalagos.org. for more info on the show. Be sure to book a weekend appointment if you can't make it during the week.

 

 

New Work!

I really wanted to share this work with everyone. Its a work I just showed at the just concluded NAC program.

More work in progress and look forward to sharing soon.

title: I am not my hair

Fibre glass, metal and newspaper

Variable dimesion

2013

(C) taiye idahor

Sweet Sweet Hallein!!- Summer International Art academy

Alte Saline Hallein

My programme at the summer academy was great and indeed proved to be an enriching 3 weeks experience. I applied for Christoph Draeger's class themed SIMSALABOOM! BEFORE YOU LEARN TO FLY, LEARN HOW TO FALL which took place from 12.08.2013 – 31.08.2013.

It was a very free class and experimentation was encouraged and I was more than happy to put myself into it. I was particularly happier about the mix of people we had in our class unlike other groups, I felt ours seemed more versatile and so did the final projects. And I learned a great deal from my colleagues in the class they were wonderful (and sometimes weird, aren't we all).

moi ( it was really cold in there, no insulation but a truly amazing space but sadly I was among the last set of artists who would use this space as the academy moves fully to its other venue in Salzburg pls click here for more info on this incredible landmark)

Since I started working professionally in 2010 I have been experimenting materials and gradually I'm trying to embrace newspaper as a primary material but not leaving other objects and materials out completely. I actually thought about doing a newspaper sculpture larger than lifesize but like most art works I make, it never grew to that point, the forms and texture of the foams overwhelmed my thinking so i gave in.  

I have been weaving lots of paper recently and just before I left for Austria, the idea of using the "image" came to me, because of my supposed problem of not getting enough newspaper woven for my work as weaving myself takes a lot of time. (I have tried to get help with it, but nobody seems to able to do it as i want) so I photographed the weaves and even some film cartridges, printed them and I ventured out to Austria hoping that I would make out time to try out this idea of using the image rather than the weave itself. It is an interesting topic, this concept of juxtaposing reality with imagination but an imagination that is built from what is real which brings one back to what is or should be real and what isn't? does that make sense?? Ok I think I should talk about this in a fresh post as I wanted this post to be about my residency so back to the academy... so here are two works from the several I made and am already in the process of building on them since I got back. My new series is called ... drums rollll..."mixed race" series. Title is not all high tech-ish and sophisticated I know but I like it and it expresses in plain words what the project is about already.

 untitled mixed race sereies
we had all these old books given to us at our disposal for use as we pleased since it was a collage class so the canyon image behind is from one of those books.

untitled mixed race series

these were from the images i printed from Lagos, pictures of my newspaper weaves

Aside my Lagos project creating collages with images, with the same experimentation mode, I began deliberating materials by trying them out with much thought to my final project, and finally I decided Styrofoam would be the way to go. I didn't give much thought to the concept at the beginning but after daily exposure to the work, as the objects in question grew into forms, it told me a tale not too far from reality of man's addiction to the material world and how we have become like robots led by technology, a machine who has gained control of the living race. Its funny how free we think we are especially in this time of the internet and free information but yet can't do without our devices ( raise you hand if you can do without your phone or any other electronic device for one day, uhmmmm).

Loved riding down to the junk yard to collect the foams

Overall the whole program for me was focused less on critical thinking but more at trying new materials and new ways to work, since I have unconsciously worked on the path of identity over the past few years, I was interested in finding new ways to express my thoughts and ideas through the "object". Hence a new project has begun and I can't wait to share it, but one thing is for sure it contains lots of weaves.

My trip was based on a collaboration between CCA,lagos and the Summer Academy so a big thank you to these two very important art institutions.

Pics from my final project.

                     Work in progress

On the open day with my work

At different times of the day, the light from the window above played with the work so it was great seeing the work in different ways but on the same day and position.

I also visited some interesting spots in Salzburg and Linz but I will do a separate post on that, I think this is long enough for one read. Thanks for reading.