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In Neo Custodians, three young artists, Ifeatuanya “Ify” Chiejina, Nwakuso Edozien, and Johnson Eziefula sift through layers of social, ancestral, 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.
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Nwakuso Edozien
It takes a Village, 2020 -
By layering colours, textures, and materials, the artist seems to emphasise the journeying towards self-actualisation more than the recognition of self as a destination. By being “inside” and fully experiencing the plethora of elements that often merge to create a holistic identity, Edozien draws on her multi-cultural upbringing using “messy, varied lines” to portray the interconnectedness of our experiences with each stroke upon masterful stroke.
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Nwakuso Edozien
Three Identities (I, II, III), 2020Nwakuso Edozien, a Nigerian-German currently based in the United States, takes on the concept of identity from a genealogical point of view, factoring in geographic and environmental influences. With an architectural background, she maps out her portraits and illustrations with layers of influence, creating three dimensional textures signifying depth and interconnectedness.
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"LIKE A WEST AFRICAN TEXTILE, THE SINGULAR ELEMENTS ARE INTERWOVEN AND WHAT SEEMS SO COMPLEX BECOMES CRYSTAL CLEAR ONCE WE ADJUST THE FOCUS AND ACCEPT COMPLEXITY AND HETEROGENEITY."
CHARLOTTE LANGHORST (ART HISTORIAN)
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“My art is, and always will be about my Nigerian heritage. So Neo Custodians for me means keeping safe something that’s integral to me. Integral to a nation, cultures, traditions, narratives, stories. It’s about showcasing Nigerian cultures and traditions proudly, through art in a new way.“
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Johnson Eziefula
Entirety Interrupted III, 2020 -
Johnson's art addresses the inevitable hybridity of self and cultural influence, urging that this “newness of self” with all the questions it brings, be celebrated.
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Johnson Eziefula
Entirety Interrupted IV, 2020Johnson Eziefula, a graduating senior of the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Lagos, adopts a more scientific approach in his analysis. In a series focused on what he has termed cultural hybridity. His hyper realist portraits emphasize the intersection of a myriad of influences brought about by colonization, globalization, and technological socialization on native communities and cultures.
Exploring the concept of light, Johnson celebrates the “melanated” vessels of his subjects, giving a glowing effect to thier skin.
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Through the combination of portraiture in charcoal and pastel coloured circles, the works in the series examine the relation between cross-cultural contact and psychological aspects associated with identity - one that is heavily influenced by the effects of globalisation. Eziefula’s work recognises both the coherence of self and the fragmentation of cultural identifiers, both pre-existing and emerging.
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"It’s my attempt to bring forth consciousness of the change going on in the world today, the interconnection between several parts of the world, and how I see our reception to new cultures being an element to foster unification..."
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Ify Chiejina
Health, 2020 Acrylic, pen, pencil and colored pencil on watercolor paper on board
11 x 14 inches -
Ify Chiejina challenges the beholder with a visual feast of colorful vignettes made of disruptive dualities, patterns and stimulating color schemes.
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Ify Chiejina
Health, 2020Ify Chiejina, a first-generation Nigerian-American, considers the tensions of being raised African in a western society. Her works in this exhibition are part of an ongoing series of drawings, consisting mostly of self-portraits, each one representing different facets of her identity. Inspired by her mother who was a proud African fashion designer, Ify experiments with patterns, recreating the renown Ankara prints in each portrait.
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Chiejina explores this process of learning and unlearning through her self-portrait figurative paintings, Patterned. In a society that tends to avoid change in order to avoid perceived fear, the artist uses her canvas as “a battlefield of her inner struggles and a process of unlearning”.
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