When energy and tension meet in photography

The exhibition which is showing from December 4th to 20th features works the artist took in her home country as well as one of her famous spots in Nigeria, her Garki suya joint.Director of Culture at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, George Ufot said he was more particular about the relationship building […]

The exhibition which is showing from December 4th to 20th features works the artist took in her home country as well as one of her famous spots in Nigeria, her Garki suya joint.
Director of Culture at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, George Ufot said he was more particular about the relationship building such forays afforded Nigeria.
Commending the artist who organised the event, Nduwhite, Ufot said: “Such artists have gone beyond their colleagues of merely exhibiting and have gone on to begin building relationships among countries.”
Commenting on the works, especially of the suya spot, Ufot said: “It has shown that people should appreciate the ordinary things about Nigeria because they matter.
“If they should concentrate on the ordinary man on the street, his ideals and beliefs and reflect these in what we do, it will be highly appreciated. We should sell Nigeria’s patrimony ourselves,” he quipped.
Norwegian Ambassador, Rolf Ree said the exhibition was one that “can create linkages and interest on the part of Nigeria and perhaps bring more cooperation on the cultural scene.”
He added that Nigerian art has inspired Norwegian artists in the last fifty to hundred years. “The strength of the bronze, brass and wood works cut across boundaries. And has a certain international realm,” he said.
In her statement, the artist described energy and tension as being created by comparing and contrasting ideas, materials and colours. She said: “Images of opposites create balance.
“When I work visually, I prefer to take a critical position and through contradictions find the way to the empathetic image. I find it meaningful to integrate work throughout the entire life and bring together the strong and the delicate, the masculine and the feminine, the practical and the abstract, philosophy and function,” the professor of Computer Sciences said.
For her, contrasts clarify diverse existence. “I tend to embrace the very thing that repels me in order to understand it. And I prefer to focus on the meaning of the matter rather than to judge on unsound basis,” she said.
Holen said by bringing the complementary together and letting opposites meet, new can be created. “In these works traditional techniques, new approaches and media communicate to create new meaning. The multidimensional quality allows them to exist in many media and languages simultaneously,” she added.