Tuesday 7 August 2012

THE STORY OF A GENERATION THROUGH THE EYES OF CHUKA NNABUIFE.

Art is life. Life is art. Everywhere we go, everywhere we turn, everything we do, – consciously or unconsciously, – our experiences and values exude art in a subtle or flamboyant means. Art, through the ages, has been a channel through which the history of a particular group of people or a society can be documented and preserved for the perusal of future generations to come. With every swish of the brush stroke from the artist we feel a connection with the depicted theme, an attachment to our society and nature as seen through the eyes of the artist. Little wonder the artist can chiefly assume the position of the speaker in the following quote:


Human is part of nature and we are like the keeper of life.”- Author Unknown.
Chuka Nnabuife takes on himself the role of custodian of life, keeper of the history of a generation at the height of its most interesting, yet delicate, phase. This generation lives at a time in which its world becomes practically dwarfed by and at the mercy of the scientific and technological advances emerging each passing day, and at the same time staggering under the weight of the social ills and misdemeanours that are becoming the order of the day. Memoirs of a generation II, a laudable product of selfless and painstaking documentation of societal happenings through 1995 to 2012, catalog graphically scenes and happenings from everyday life which the viewers can easily relate with.
The question we normally ask ourselves is reiterated in Are we really safe here?

Are we really safe here? 3.11ft x 2ft, Acrylic on Canvas, 2012.
It depicts three faces, a woman, a man and likely their son. The work reveals a satirical intent which Chuka’s works are habitually imbued with. While pondering over the eternal questions housed in our hearts, the figures are already resigned to fate. Finger-biting, cheeks supported by palms and stolid faces have become normal emotive expressions to the societal ills endangering the society as a whole. As related in Chuka’s commentary in the pages of the June 30, 2012 Nigerian Compass, this generation is gradually becoming content with doing nothing to remedy the state of affairs in the country. Instead they look on and blame those in authority as opposed to doing something to salvage a sinking ship.
                               

Proper Graduation, 3.5 x 4.9ft, Oil on Canvas, 2010.          Gender Take-over, 1.9 x 2.6ft, Mixed media, 2010.

With the advent of technological advances, civilisation, western influences and the hype of the media and the so-called stars, values have begun to erode to an embarrassing low. In Proper Graduation, Chuka evaluates the relationship between the values instilled in a regular western education and the traditional educational which is gradually washed away by the strong currents of civilisation. It is obvious, as similarly reinforced by the work that both go hand in hand. A little less of either of the two class of education would result in an unbalance in the socio-cultural development of an individual. More especially is this when it comes to women in general. Women are generally considered to belong to the kitchen. To fulfil their duty as wife, mother, companion and housekeeper they are mandated to undergo a thorough training in the hands of their mothers as they grow up. But a well rounded up training is achieved as they combine what they have learnt with a fair share of the western education. This is highlighted in Chuka’s Proper Graduation. For a while, a majority of people were against girl-child education and the empowerment of a woman which necessitated the rise of agitators for the empowerment of women and gender equality. As a result of these agitations, women are beginning to fill up roles which are nominally restricted to the men-folks. While it cannot be said that women have been 100% empowered to the degree the men are, they are now holding posts, – politically, economically, religiously and in all spheres of life, – which traditionally were restricted from them. Gender Take-over tells this story. Turning their backs to the traditional representation of womanhood, – a possible illustration of the traditional views of what and what defines the responsibilities of a woman, – women stylistically brought out with light tones emerge, so to say from the background, advancing towards the viewer in a show of demonstration led by  a woman clad chiefly in royal costume. It would be interesting to note that the woman in the fore-front tramples a man at her foot, significant of their growing dominance.
Chika’s thirty one works that make up the Memoirs of a Generation II exhibition is a satirical analysis and documentation of a generation’s resilience, hope, beauty, industriousness, fickleness, growth, values, rhythm, love and values. These satirical observations by Chuka are bolstered by his use of heavily overlaid colours. His colours are thick and unsparingly reflect a decisiveness and radicalism in stylistic rendition. Despite the dullness of the colours the figures are significantly brought out with artfully highlighted tones. This intones a message of a hope, a silver lining at the end of the tunnel, – a message that, as a generation, we stand out from our individual and communal struggles and circumstances however grim as they may seem. None of the work on display reflects an aesthetic obsession of beauty as depicted by a thorough extraordinarily beautiful finish. Instead Chuka expends his finesse in bringing out his theme in the barest aesthetic feeling while not losing the connection with the viewer.