History, Traditions and Culture

Osaze Amadasun’s taps into the diverse culture around him to create his art, particularly his Benin heritage which he often depicts stories of historical or fabled happenings. His series ‘Once Upon a Kingdom’, is a collection of four paintings depicting key events during the rule of Oba Esigie (1504-1550), the Benin monarch, climaxing in a tribute to his mother, Queen Idia. The works draw on 16th-century stories from the Benin kingdom which have been immortalised in the bronze works of the Benin bronze casters and in anthropological data.

Stephen Tayo -Photographer Stephen Tayo’s  series titled “Ibeji” explores the psychological impact of having to share kinship with and having one’s identity defined by another. Ibeji is the name of the Orisha deity that represents and protects twins in West African and diasporic Yoruba culture. Twins have historically been celebrated as a sign of good fortune by the Yoruba people – an ethnic group originating from Yorubaland, an area in and around present-day Nigeria. Ibeji can be translated to mean “the arrival of two”. 

Dandelion Eghosa re-examines the notion of “Home” by visiting places and re-living childhood experiences and traditions that were once familiar and now feel foreign and uncomfortable. Memory is never a single, solid unit—it is a collection of multiple instances. This is why the word recollect exists. When we remember, we gather together bits and pieces of events, people, places, sounds, feelings. Memory is therefore a collage. The images in Home seem to acknowledge this. Each image in the series look like a set of layers and textures joined together to form a single image. 

Visual Artist and Painter Issac Emokpae pays homage to fatherly figures- both earthly and divine, who have played significant roles and spurred the artist on his creative journey. With gratitude, Emokpae, thanks both divine and earthly father figures who have spurred him on in his creative pursuits. Embedded in these works are slight indications of his influences—especially visual manifestations of style streamed down from his father, Artist Erhabor Emokpae, and thematic directions culled from the accessible musings of and on his creator.