For its debut at FNB Art Fair Paris, O’DA Art Gallery will present a booth exploring the ‘Unspoken Stories’ of the African Identity and the histories connected to our traditions addressed through the practice of Nigerian multidisciplinary artist, Isaac Emokpae, Duke Asidere & French visual artist, Ousmane Ba.
Ousmane Ba’s work explores our relationships with self, the dynamism of movement, and our engagement with nature. Inspired by the art of calligraphy, he uses ink, as well as the techniques of Japanese printmaking, as a way to highlight bodies that are underrepresented and invisible in art circles through a body positivity lens. With weightless silhouettes arching and floating in each composition, Ba focuses on enacting the spiritual essence of peace and harmony–inspired by his Fulani background, a traditionally pastoral nomadic community. As a result, his figures become a motion vector that represents a metaphor for life, one where unity and oneness exists.
Similarly, in exploring traditions and our connection to our roots, Isaac Emokpae’s Infinity Series pays homage to the traditional African Woven cloth, Aso-Oke–a prestigious hand-woven cloth created by the Yoruba people of West Africa. In this series, the artist highlights the unspoken stories woven into every strip of the Aso-oke fabric. Using the meticulous process of the stained glass technique, the artist works backwards layering each colour to match the precision of the fabrics colour scheme. Through the use of bold colours, and expressive lines, he expresses the varied identities interwoven in the yoruba tradition.
Duke Asidere on the other hand responds to the complexities of his community life and how he is directly affected by them. Depicting family members, friends and random people he encounters, he adopts playful and caricature imagery to explore the defiant forms of identity & individualism in his portraits. Similarly, his abstract pieces of heavy layers of oil paint across the surface of the canvas exude latent energy and metaphorically speak to nature's endless possibilities. With adventure at the crucks of his creative expression, Asidere paints from a place of spontaneity and internal expression as a means to seek creative freedom in an otherwise oppressed society.
The African Identity is layered with contexts of history, tradition, memory. Through their distinct style, each artist forms visual metaphors of these realities with the intention to ensure narrative continuity.
