Expressing A Metaphor, Chukwuma’s Together Together In Review

Tens of thousands of lines run into each other, crisscrossing to form shapes, leaping over themselves, struggling to be noticed but the artist has other intentions. In the intricate struggle for each line to be noticed is their coming together to form one shape. The colors in this wood panel mixed media are very contrasting. The choice of composition both color and form, is dark and fiery with two fiercely looking figures with undefined physique, except that they are bald-headed – at least as suggested by their depiction, there are no definite features to attribute the male gender to them. Especially when you consider their elaborate lips painted in tones of red and orange – their upper lip is in red and the lower in orange. While nature may assign natural red or pink lips to a man, it is more fashionable that women with the aid of lipsticks outline their lips in red. The accentuation of their facial features strikes the viewer, and for an enthusiast familiar with history the images of the famous Nok Art comes to mind.

Perhaps in the ocean of the artist’s memory the images, the Nok terracottas resurfaced during the creation of this work, perhaps not. The almost triangular shape and obviousness of the eyes looking directly and boldly at the viewer draws one into wanting to understand more. The rendition of the figures in cubist style leaves the viewer guessing, are they human figures or masks? On one hand the appearance looks human with lips, nose and ears, on the other hand they could be masks, considering that the image to the left has his head in a position that conflicts with what is biologically accepted among humans. Except for extreme medical conditions, no human being will have his head aligned horizontally.

However, the title Together Together binds these two figures. The fact that they are joined at the shoulder raises evokes ideas in the mind of the viewer, are they conjoined twins? – because they look alike, joined together at their shoulder or is their undefined flow into each other at the shoulder – (a part of the human body that symbolizes responsibility) a metaphor for understanding the artist’s mind and process in creating this piece. In life we are confronted with several responsibilities that sway us in different directions mentally (figure with head in horizontal direction) especially when we are not prepared for them and that is a common experience of our humanity. Together Together resonates more as a metaphor for understanding experiences coded in a Nigerian slang “we gather dey” or “we dey together” as a way to empathize and show support with a fellow human going through certain situation, in some cases the sympathizer has experienced or is experiencing the same situation and in most cases it is a pop culture way to show sympathy.

Finally, Together Together as a work of art defies classification as elements from cubism, Nok and expressionism can be seen flowing into patterns and motifs inspired by indigenous writing styles like Uli and Nsibidi which Chukwuma has evolved into a set of unending glyphs to make a signature for himself.

By Guest Author
Peju Alatise