“Ile-Ibinu”, Digital Art by Ernest Agoba
- Ernest Agoba
- August 12, 2020
- 1:43 am
Ernest Agoba's startling digital art exhibition in Motna, Jos, might not be for the faint hearted.
In a period of four years, after my last exhibition in Jos, Nigeria, titled, Cracks on the Wall, I slumped into some kind of creative inertia. I managed to sell, for survival purposes, most of the artworks I had planned to use for exhibitions between 2016 and now, 2020. It is already 2020, a year visited with unbearably agonizing human suffering increased by the afflictions caused by the Covid ’19 virus and continuous attacks by militant terrorists. I was spurred to return to making art by the need to inject hope in the minds of people that cared to look at my works.
Artworks that Elicit the Evils of Our time
“Dangerous times” is coming on the heels of “Cracks on the Walls” which illustrated the 2016 onslaught on the failure of Leadership in Nigeria. This follow-up exhibition is presently being done between August 3, 2020 to August 17, 2020. It chronicles the mental and devastating experiences that have surfaced among Nigerians and Africans at large as a result of the suffering brought about by both the Boko Haram crisis and the advent of the ravaging Covid virus. From classroom drama to pictorial documentations of rehearsals, I have converted experiential and pedagogical classroom engagements to a major exhibition statement in this aptly themed exhibition outing I call, “Dangerous Times”. How was I inspired into creating this body of Work?
Abundance of Mass Burial Everywhere You Turn: The State of the Nigerian Nation
The Worsening Threats in 2020
The year 2020 came with an abundance of pain and insecurity. While mothers and fathers are killing their unborn children, others are selling their children, and siblings for paltry sums of money to provide for themselves. Life in Africa’s most populous nation has never been the same. Every turn we get to, provides us with more and more challenges and misery. These are exacerbated by the advent of covid ’19 which imprisons people with their anxieties and pains right in their respective homes. While it has become increasingly difficult for Nigerians to cope with medical bills and food supply, the government’s clampdown on social activities has made life more difficult for the people. The rising insecurity in the northwest and north central has continued to be a constant source of disturbance for me. There have been vicious attacks on local communities and the kidnapping of people by criminal groups in these regions. While this is being described by state officials as banditry, evidence suggests that the government is simplifying the dynamics. In actuality, northwestern Nigeria has become the safe haven of increasingly active terrorist groups. These include the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS); Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb; a splinter of Boko Haram popularly referred to as the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and the Fulani herdsmen of West Africa once rated the fourth-deadliest terror group in the world.
A Cross Section of my 2020 Exhibition before the formal opening in Motna, Jos
Exhibiting these works in 2020 is considered a most arduous task because of the covid restrictions. However, I saw the need to let people know that art will thrive, even in the most austere situations. Art will not sleep. Art will not hold back. For me, the show must go on. While it did not quite witness the expected turn out as expected, the radio discussions that accompanied the exhibition was gratifying.
“Smell of Rot” Digital Oil Rendition on Canvas, by Ernest Agoba-
“Smell of Rot” was printed on canvas with daubs of oil painted over-rubbing the surface. It was later sandpapered to accept the smear of dripping paints. It illustrates a gathering of vultures whose everyday pre-occupation is to wait for dying humans to prey on. For purchase or enquiry about works from this exhibition, please reach me through the Contact me Page.
Art of Agoba and the Metaphors of National Tragedy
“Ìĺè ìbiñù”, Digital Art, by Ernest Agoba
“Ìĺè ìbiñù” is a digital art that enacts the vexatiousness that exists in contemporary Africa. It equally depicts leaders in Africa who heedlessly sow seeds of discords on our soil to produce more discord. Our lands have become mythic lands of vexation, a labyrinth of evil. This work belongs to my art theme called, ” A Cry for Help” This work is the outcome of multiple experimentations on a play titled, Red is the Freedom Road, by Femi Osofisan, during rehearsals in the Open Air Theater of the University of Jos, Nigeria. “Ìĺè ìbiñù” drew a lot of curiosity from my audience. Why would the child be killed by his own father? What does the brooding child in the distance represent? does the precipice around which the stand represent the danger that is portended? the much I could say as an explanation is, “Ìĺè ìbiñù” is a digital art that enacts the vexatiousness with which Africa is presented associated. It depicts leaders in Africa who heedlessly sow seeds of discords on our soil to produce more discord. Our lands have become mythic lands of vexation, a labyrinth of evil. The symbolic child in the picture is metaphorical of a youth that seems watchful but complacent. This work belongs to my art theme called, ” A Cry for Help”
