OBI OKIGBO CONVERGENCE 4 OBI OKIGBO CONVERGENCE 5 6 November 24, 2019 - February 16, 2020 7 8 Curated by Sandra Mbanefo Obiago 9 10 Back Into the Belly of Memory Itself Obi Okigbo is a nimble world spirit. Her In Okigbo’s art we feel the wind of creativity is a visual Convergence of global memory rustle through the dense tropical mythology, literature, philosophy, and vegetation around her hometown of Ojoto. culture presented on a rich tapestry of art. We see a deep reflection of Christopher She invites us to “step back into the belly Okigbo’s poetry which beckoned her to of memory” drawing from generational return to her familial roots, searching for an stories and personal experience spanning encounter with the father she never knew, across time and space. and eventually to experience release, to embrace her own gift and follow its path: We experience the past, present and future coalesce through her delicate ink and pigment paintings on linen, canvas and silk, revealing an artist whose creative “AN OLD STAR departs, leaves us here on expression comes alive in her own unique the shore gazing heavenward for a new space. In Convergence she explores the star approaching; The new star appears, meeting point of physical and spiritual foreshadows its going before a going and 1 birth, life and death, and eventual coming that goes forever.” transcendence. Okigbo’s work is inspired by a keen Through the filter of her father’s soulful study of history which emboldened her poetry, resplendent with symbolism, fascination to cross reference symbols and lyricism, and the wide arch of metaphor, religious iconography from the European we step into the refined world of Obi Renaissance through to African tradition, Okigbo, a rich natural dreamscape of lush with Asian and Middle Eastern mysticism tropical flora and fauna, alive with forms and mythology all woven together into and beings from universal epochs. “one unified material form”, which is rooted in a family legacy of intellectual 1 Excerpt from the poem, Eley For Alto by and artistic brilliance. Christopher Okigbo 11 In Twilight Moment in the Wake of a Dream, “Into the hot garden, where all roads the elephant of memory charges across the meet…” background of a meeting between three distinct human forms, possibly representing “tangled wood-tale” European, Asian and African culture, … for we are listening in cornfields naïve in their simplistic outlines, standing like sentinels in a mystical landscape that Among wind players is their point of convergence. Listening to the wind leaning over its In Watermaid we see a female spirit lovliest fragment”2 hovering in mid-flight, wings extended in protection. In The Clearing, a Benin The “forest works”, which form part of masked face with typical lines of ancient Okigbo’s Out of the Ashes series, signify scarification, appears in the thicket the connection between the physical and watching and waiting, while in Mmanwu, spiritual through the natural world. Just as the ancestral spirits dance through a thick the annual bush fires across the tropical green and red forest, inspired by the writing savannah are a precursor to new growth, of Fagunwa’s classic Forest of a Thousand so does Out of the Ashes signify Okigbo’s Daemons. new artistic growth. In The Yellow Melodies, two lovers lie In Convergence we see a departure in delicate embrace under the shelter from the intense conversation with her of tropical palm fronds intertwined in a father, which was the subject of her last revere of tender love, while nature creates solo exhibition in 2007, and discover new a cocoon around their passion. These growth on Okigbo’s creative journey, scenes mirror some of the rich imagery in which has taken her into new areas of Christopher Okigbo’s poems: fascination. 2 from The Passage by Christopher Okgbo 12 In a quest to study the ancient art of ink and These delicate works are in stark contrast pigment drawings she has honed her skills to Ibeji, where we see the influence of by learning from the work of 14th century Okigbo’s years of architectural practice. Korean painter “Ohwon”, interpreting Two mystical Ibeji crowned twin figures, and mastering the craft of this ancient ink are embedded in a complex city-scape technique. of buildings and skyscrapers, with thick black lines criss-crossing the horizon. On The influence of Asian mysticism is clearly closer scrutiny we see one figure, weeping evident in Jacob’s Ladder, where clouds over the loss of his twin, who has stepped nestle around high mountain peaks and into the next world, but is still present, forest vegetation creates a visual ascent based on traditional Yoruba philosophy. of humanity’s aspiration for enlightened Transporting these ancient cultural icons understanding and sight. The journey of into contemporary space is vintage discovery is represented by the height Okigbo. of the painting, reflecting the upward journey of faith with Jacob, looking like an Her world view is nimble and rests just as ancient Japanese scribe, turning his gaze easily alongside European classics. Her and chest upwards, exposed and ready Mystic Lamb series, inspired by the seven to receive divine insight. meter wide “Ghent Altar piece” by 15th century Belgian artists Jan & Hubert Van Okigbo’s exploration of the divine female Eyck, is her ode to the memory of heroes and the universal concept of spiritual of African descent. For the past few years, reverence and beauty comes to light in she has worked on over 350 portraits of The “Nous” between the Two”, a portrait top past and present influencers, grouping of Mary of Magdalene sitting at the feet them into literary and artistic giants of Jesus, turning her back on societal (including the famous Nigerian Mbari criticism, with words such as “ignorance” Club of the 1960’s), musicians and singers, scribbled like graffiti across the right side of whom she calls the prophets and angels, the canvas. and freedom fighters and martyrs, who 13 fought for black independence and civil The last section of the exhibition is made rights. up of a series of fourteen miniature studies which show flashes of brilliance as Okigbo For this exhibition, she presents pencil, ink, presents snapshots of women, community, and watercolor portraits of Black heroes space, air, water, and earth on her including Nelson Mandela, Mohammed promenade through life. Ali, Queen Amina, Fumilayo Ransomkuti, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Bruce I hope you enjoy Convergence, as we Onobrakpeya, Florence Nwapa and of step across the confines of what many course her father, Christopher Okigbo. consider “art from Africa”, and follow Okigbo’s oeuvre as she takes us on an These powerful portraits are drawn on exciting journey of discovery. paper and silk, and are showcased along the main corridors of the Wheatbaker, like a hall of fame, reminding us of our Sandra Mbanefo Obiago giants though history. In the bar area, eight “angel” portraits of famous black Curator female jazz singers, Les Anges Chantuers, include legendary Ella Fitzgerald, Jill Scott, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone. These portraits will eventually be included in a large installation piece Okigbo is working on, similar to the Ghent Altar Piece, which will truly reflect her creative dexterity in using powerful portraiture to tell a more complete story of the African renaissance. 14 15 16 A REBIRTH When Obiageli invited me to write this multidimensional ‘ceremony’ of paint piece for her solo exhibition, I was more that explores the sacred spirit space than honoured, having curated her first of the forest, portraiture and religious major show in London. 10 years after that iconography. eponymous show, her latest body of work shows an astonishing evolution of her on- “The Forest Series”; “Weaver Bird”, going exploration of self, now expanded “Watermaid” and “The Clearing” are into one of the collective, the African inspired by photographs she took during collective that translates into a profoundly her residency at Wole Soyinka Foundation deeper level of analysis, understanding Abeokuta, in 2016, where she says she felt and thus renewal. – ‘the impression of the forest inhabited by ancestral memories, presence, and secret Out of the Ashes is trilogy of parts ~ the stories’. first features her breath-taking trade-mark A further influence was the classic work Indian ink stain and indigo pigment on of African literature, ‘Forest of a Thousand linen paintings. The second ‘space’ unveils Daemons’ by D.O Fagunwa, considered to new larger format oil paintings whilst the be a triumph of the mythical imagination, final section, previews a curated selection where Yoruba cosmology, human, natural, of portraits from her ‘Mystic Lamb’ series; and supernatural beings come alive in the a body of work which is a continuous magical landscape of the forest. examination of human greatness. The paintings are ancestral melodies, engravings or markings like lyrical stories The oeuvre presented is a reflection on into one’s soul. They tell a tale of mystical the theme of RENEWAL paying reverence times lost but not forgotten. Times that to the ancestral realm and our intrinsic invoke the spirits of our ancestors, a time of belief systems. We are entranced in a purity and connectivity, a place of solace 17 and grounding, that ‘tap into our essential after, in spite of temptation would reset self.’ the divine order. A new perspective is awakened, but ultimately the viewer is led Explored in her larger artworks, “Jacob’s to his or her own interpretation and neither ladder,” “ Twilight,” “Nous between the is wrong. This is the tale that highlights the Two” & “Yellow Melodies” is a re-examining otherworldly potentiality that is Love. of prevailing Abrahamic religious themes of The Gardens of Eden, Jacob’s Dream, Finally, Obi’s tribute to Van Eyck is the Wise men, the Disciples and ‘the manifested in a ‘preview’ of her much everlasting quest to find a higher Truth’.