NDIDI EMEFIELE

Whereas the artist’s previous exhibition was dedicated and inspired by the tragic loss of Emefiele’s beloved sister, hernew show, dedicated to the importance of fellowship, represents the slow process of healing and how one goes aboutdealing with memory and pain. The artist uses ‘fellowship’ in its widest sense; the importance of friends,relationships andspaces and above all, ‘fellowship with self’.have helped her navigate the very profound mourning period which she wentthrough and is still going through. The artist sees this gift of fellowship as being a very spiritual embrace and this hascertainly helped her. These paintings, as she explains it, ‘are seeking to reconcile the familiar and the unknown where Ipaint it just as I imagine it from the clues I get when dreaming about my sister’.

These works are heavily autobiographical, an element which, apart from ‘Here as in Heaven’, 2020, her previous exhibition,was something she had felt very reticent about. Moreover, these paintings have served Emefiele as a cathartic voyage fordealing with ‘self’. ‘Using ambiguous landscapes and a myriad of materials in these heavily collaged works as if to unravellayers of emotions that have been concealed in an outer shell’. (Emefiele)

This new exhibition will be dominated by large paper works; a medium Emefiele has used on many occasions butnever giving them such prominence. There are narrative echoes of previous works such as her use of swimming pools,exaggeratedly large glasses and extremely rich and colourful costumes and landscapes, although they are now used ina different way. A perfect example is the work entitled ‘Untitled (Pool Side)’ The dramatic sky, the hills in the backgroundilluminated by various houses and the fact that the pool is not now a dominant presence but one of a series of elementsin an extraordinarily rich and complex composition. The large work on paper, ‘Isle of the Blessed’ could be seen as acompanion piece to the work entitled, ‘They Came to see God’ from her previous exhibition. In that work, two womenpresumably the artist and her recently departed sister, are in front of the sea shore, surrounded by animals, with the artistlooking towards us the viewer, whist the other woman has her head turned away from us as she looks directly at thehorizon... in ‘Isle of the Blessed’, both women are looking straight at us. Pictured in this extraordinarily rich landscape,here, instead of her sister, Emefiele’s companion is intended to be herself.

This is even more evident in the work entitled,’ ‘Nwunye Anyi (our wife)’ where we view the majority of the scene and thecharacters through a heavily beaded curtain. It’s as if the artist is telling us, the viewer, ’ if you want to really look at myworks you have to stop and give them time’.

Emefiele has painted dinner scenes before which referenced ‘The Last Supper’. This time she turns to Egon Schiele’s’Friends (Round Table)’ for inspiration. On this occasion, instead of using unknown figures as in the earlier works, sheis now featuring herself and friends of hers to populate the scene. These new works where she confronts herself haveopened up a new reality for her. The artist calls this voyage of discovery as ’ confronting her fears’.

Her previous use of collaged elements to enrich the canvas has been further developed to include; a variety of textiles,plastics, clock bezels, compact discs, collage, printed papers, sequins, pens, faux pearls and coloured pencils on archivalpaper. In addition to this, the animals which populate her paintings, as in her earlier works, serve as spiritual symbols tofurther enrich the many layers of meaning in each work.

All these additional elements enable the artist to display her extraordinarily creative spirit. In the work entitled ‘Brethren’,just the glasses of the two characters is sufficient testimony to this. Glasses are one of the recurring leitmotifs of Emefiele’sworks. Used as a protection for women against the aggressiveness of the male gaze, here she gives her creativity freerein.

Although her bold use of colour has always been present, these new paintings feel like looking at a “fauvist on speed’.With each successive exhibition, the artist has succeeded in pushing her works into new uncharted waters, althoughalways remaining true to herself. She is on a highly individual artistic voyage and each step reserves for us, the viewer,new and unforeseen surprises.