Uche Okeke's 'The Conflict'

Uche Okeke's work titled 'Conflict(After Achebe)' is an oil painting based on one of his illustrations from Chinua Achebe's book 'Things Fall Apart'.

Here, Ajofia the leader of Egwugwu (the council of masquerade judges) in Umofia, is seen...

...addressing Mr Smith, the European missionary who is seen standing with his interpreter.

The performers have been enraged by the unmasking of one of their kind in public by Enoch, a zealot and new convert to Christianity.

Notice the onlookers on the far right.

Achebe writes, “The band of Egwugwu moved like a furious whirlwind to Enoch's compound and... reduced it to a desolate heap. And from there they made for the church, intoxicated with destruction"

This scene represents a clash of cultures and an early resistance against Western cultural hegemony.

Even though the painting is almost abstracted beyond recognition,

The colour rhythms are very carefully employed to reflect the moods of the subject matter, whether they are discernible or not, like the mud walls of the church bulding...

...and the vegetation in the background, barely visible in the night time.

Okeke's emphasis on sharp and dark colours effectively balances his compositions, as he does his bit to reflect the gradual loss of identity due to colonialism.

Much like the masquerades, the artist himself rebelled against formal British artistic training and works of earlier contemporary Nigerian artists, while a student in Zaria.