Trace: Transactional Aesthetics
Dimensions: 574 cm x 155 cm
Media: C-print on photographic paper/collage, mixed media, culled objects from
both markets
The
typical Nigerian open air market ignites the senses, there is an explosion of sights,
sounds and and smells that overwhelm the viewer with the
hectic blast of life and breakneck race against time to attract and interest
everyone in sight. There is a strong
sense of colour, synergy and vitality that is exuded by the activities and
displays of the Lagos market place. This is epitomized in viewing of various
products, textiles with customized designs to reflect local traditional cultures,
secondhand clothes,jewelry,
and edible consumables.
Food inherently has many dynamics at play including cultural, social economical, health
beliefs and political undertones such as the production, control, regulation,
inspection, distribution ,patents and ownership of seed companies etc , that we
tend to forget when trading, buying and consumimg
these products and commodities. Issues of fairtrade, barcoding , regulatory
incumberences attached to importation of foods affiliated with political
ramifications are contenstable.One wonders how international and global food organisations and agencies will be
able to come up with a sustainable food security policy for all, that is
inclusive of nations in transition before 2025. All the commodities at first
glance appears to be in a seemingly chaotic state, but a second
look reveals an aggressively ordered nature that serves
as a fertile ground for exhibiting the aesthetically staged street market
tableaus.
My
project idea is centred in the regeneration and interpretation of the aura of
the Lagos market in inspiring the sense and feel of its internal dynamics. To
achieve this I intend to recreate a section of an open air Lagos market by adopting my own aesthetic
techniques and installation methods to create an engaging experience. This will
be done by employing the use of lens
based media, other mixed media materials and constructions that
reflects and traces the histories of commodities between our two countries that
moves back and forth within our cultural and commercial alliances and
interrelations.
The
inclusion of the
historical colonial and symbolic tea tray with all its accruements and
associated delicacies (eg. little samples of cloves, nutmeg, coffee and sugar from
Indonesia, and palm oil, cotton, rubber, groundnut and cocoa from Nigeria) into my installation. Serves to reference our shared
colonial history between Nigeria and Indonesia through our colonial bonds, that speak of the
unrelenting exploitation of our natural resources.
Tea as a subject is affected in both Nigerian and
Indonesian cultures considering that the culture
of tea drinking is not originally western but a transmuted culture that is
modified and redefined then introduced in cultural orientation to other
cultures that have their own history of brewing. What the idea of tea has
become is now a linking factor in the aesthetics of trade by our cultures. This has a huge impact on the cultural change that comes with a history of
colonization, and shows how social constructs weigh in and
impact on the things like food that is a prerequisite required for the
development of human physiognomy.Thus the politics of consumption and trade have
immense impact on internal and external relations of any society.
The
project will include a reference to
the popular 'African' wax prints that in many ways epitomise the
image of the African identity and at the same time has its roots in the
Indonesian archipelago.
An
overview of the installation would involve a large wide angled photographic
image of a market scene serving as a backdrop upon which other ideas would be
attached and integrated. There will be an adjoining shelf installed with commodities alongside other products peculiar
to Indonesia and Nigeria.
I also hope to include architectural aspects to the installation that speaks about
the impact of trade on a cities regeneration and urbanization process.
The
Jogja audience are to engage in a participatory per formative experience by going
through the market space and children
are
particularly invited to partake
in the consumption of traditional indonesian snacks on display as they would if they were in
the open air market space.. The participation is hoped to affect feeling of the
audience and registering the aura in long term memory of them affecting a
market space that is away from their own immediate and familiar environment.
This
project signifies a socially interactive, collaborative visual journey using various media and experiences
that typify Lagos and Jogja. It also
highlights the potential to continually and consistently culturally enhance
mutual understanding and cohesion between our countries and continents, through
contemporary artistic interventions like this and our re-assimilation of the areas that overlap
in our relations and affect our daily lives at the same time.
Ndidi
Dike
Sculptor/Cultural Activist
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