#ChooseToChallenge: Contemporary African Art by Women on Display

#ChooseToChallenge: Contemporary African Art by Women on Display

As part of the celebration of the 2021 International Women’s Day in the month of March, a group of female artists under the aegis of the Female Artists Association of Nigeria organized ‘Choose to Challenge’ art exhibitions in Lagos and Abuja to showcase contemporary African Art done by women in Nigeria.

The art exhibitions were held at the Nike Art Gallery in Lagos, and the Nsibidi Art Gallery in Abuja, and was an avenue to promote the talents of female artists in Nigeria and support their craft.

Art patrons and enthusiasts were dazzled with a range of artworks on display, evoking themes of womanhood, female friendships, the pressure of domestic life on women, beauty, motherhood, inequality, traditional African life, women as caregivers and providers as well as the unsavory themes of violence against women and girls.

The artworks on display were done using a variety of mediums such as acrylic on canvas, oil paintings, charcoal on paper, as well as sculptures, ceramic art, and African craftworks. With almost all the artworks depicting aspects of a woman and womanhood, the exhibition organizers and featured artists admonished women to key into the ‘Choose to Challenge’ call of this year’s International Women’s Day and challenge for equality as well as support one another, as they used their artworks to speak to different issues affecting the female gender.

“When you hear the word ‘choose’, it means a voluntary action. We choose to challenge the situation as women around the world are going through a lot,” artist Rita Ubah said in a chat with Channels TV as she disclosed that she chose to support women with lower income with her artwork. Her work which is a wall painting of an African woman tending to the roasting of corn for sale, Rita explained that the subject of her painting is a teacher whose job was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Losing her source of livelihood, she resorted to selling roast corn by the roadside to sustain herself and her household.

About the artwork called ‘Friends for Life’, the artist Chinze Ojobo, who is also the president of the Female Artists Association, explained that it speaks to the fact that women should be there for each other, team as one group to form an alliance and be each other’s angels.

Speaking on the resilience of the African woman at the Abuja exhibition, art patron and curator, Cornel Agim said, “The African woman, no matter how despondent you think she is, is still very unique. The African Woman is somebody who can withstand a lot of pressure, and assist the man in every way, therefore [the art on display at the exhibition connote how important the] cultural affiliation of womanhood is to the development of Africa.”

Women have given so much to society and deserve to be celebrated. In this regard, contemporary African art by women is a good venture to support and promote as we do at Aworanka with a rich collection of female African artists and artworks in our catalog.

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