“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.”
Michael Crichton
In Neo Custodians, three young artists, Ifeatuanya “Ify” Chiejina, Nwakuso Edozien, and Johnson Eziefula sift through layers of social, genetic, and cultural inheritance and influences in an attempt to define, examine, and celebrate self. Through varying media, from paintings to graphic illustrations, hyper realistic drawings to collage, each artist invites the viewer to join in their questioning. Ify speaks about the duality experienced when attempting to internalize societal precepts, Nwakuso uses mixed media as a metaphor to address the various layers and complexities of genetic and geographical impact, and Johnson takes on a psychological approach with the use of light and color to emphasize the permeation of cross-cultural influences. These artists do not claim to have arrived at an answer, but with each brush stroke expose questions buried beneath the surface.
“The fixation with your identity limits your identity”
- AYISHAT AKANBI (Writer, Stylist)
