CONCEPT:
Containment is a significant idea in my work. Here, I simultaneously explored the ideas of restriction and freedom. Forced to walk on restricted paths yet desiring freedom, it is on us to deconstruct and redesign narratives to suit our journey in life.
This work alludes to tradition, statutes, and structures by mimicking the Idoma traditional dress (costume). Tradition is law, and what is my path to freedom? Perhaps I do not need freedom, and containment is ideal.
*Idoma is an ethnic group in Benue state, Nigeria, whose traditional attire (Apa or Edema) consists of strips of red and black woven fabric.
MATERIAL:
Fabric, Found objects, Metal, Acrylic on canvas.
Each object used here presents history, telling their own story and mine.
PROCESS/TECHNIQUE:
Sewing, Glueing, Tying, Construction.
In the early and mid-2010s, I started to explore a certain form of abstraction, playing with bits of found objects -odds and ends that do mean something to me (some of them do not).
At the time I made this work, I had also moved to a new studio, so it all felt new, like plunging in and setting off on some very long journey into the unknown, open, free, yet daunting.
With this work, I feel like I made a rewarding discovery, that led me to a beautiful place in my journey.
FITTING TO THE EXHIBITION THEME:
By material of textile. By form of reconstruction. By process of textile - sewing, and reconstruction. By concept around textile.
By my work, I am constantly working to repair and fix broken parts, alluding to the idea of reconstruction, building up, and repair.
- Subject Matter: Experimental
- Collections: 2. Recovered Cork Paper/ Filters from stubbed cigarettes: Materiality, 6. Fibre: Materiality, Threads, 8. Text Materiality, 10. nkụkọ na égwū: Acrylic. Tempera