EVA OBODO: AND WE HIRED A CARPENTER TO PATCH THE CLOTH

  • EVA OBODO

    EXPOSITION PERSONNELLE
    AND WE HIRED A CARPENTER TO PATCH THE CLOTH
  • Eva Obodo is one of the artists whose long-term engagement with unconventional materials for sculpture has shaped the direction of...
    Eva Obodo is one of the artists whose long-term engagement with unconventional materials for sculpture has shaped the direction of contemporary art in Nigeria. Working primarily with charcoal, jute fiber and repurposed fabrics, his work engages both the materiality of his chosen media and their potential as metaphors for addressing contemporary issues in Africa and the enduring legacies of extractive colonialism.
     
    Through a labor-intensive process of tying and bundling charcoal, a material with chemical, physical, and symbolic affinities with coal, Obodo interrogates the history of mineral extraction in Africa. His works in this exhibition responds to the social and environmental consequences of extractive economies, including the exploitation of labor and the precarious conditions of contemporary living.
  • In the works presented in this exhibition, Obodo’s materials and studio process function as metaphors for the lived condition in...

    In the works presented in this exhibition, Obodo’s materials and studio process function as metaphors for the lived condition in Africa. He describes his process of stitching, wrapping, and tying as gestures of repairing wounds that history has left open and tying disparate parts together, both materially and symbolically. His approach transforms artistic labor into a meditative practice of restoration, reimagining how broken systems and fractured histories might be held together, even temporarily. He believes that materials possess their own agency and capacity to speak, and by listening to his materials, Obodo allows charcoal to narrate intertwined stories of exploitation, resilience, and hope.

     

    The exhibition’s title, And We Hired a Carpenter to Patch the Cloth, crystallizes this philosophy. It evokes the improvisation and irony that define both African social realities and Obodo’s aesthetic language. The absurdity of a carpenter repairing damaged garments reflects the absurdity of systems that no longer function as intended, yet also the ingenuity of those who persist in repairing them.

      

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  • ABOUT THE ARTIST

    ABOUT THE ARTIST

    Eva Obodo se concentre sur la fibre et le charbon de bois en tant que médiums conceptuels, créant des peintures en relief et des sculptures autonomes à partir de processus d'emballage, de ficelage et de regroupement. En incorporant des matériaux mis au rebut tels que le charbon de bois et la fibre de jute, Obodo crée des récits visuels qui évoquent les structures sociopolitiques et économiques complexes qui encadrent la culture contemporaine.

     

    Les œuvres au charbon de bois d'Obodo font référence aux questions de ressources naturelles et de développement au Nigeria, tandis que ses œuvres en fibre utilisent des fils de nylon qui sont noués, roulés et enveloppés pour créer des métaphores visuelles colorées. Ensemble, elles évoquent les liens entre les individus et leurs relations sociales tissées dans un contexte économique et politique, reliées par la communauté, la nation et l'économie mondiale par le biais du commerce de biens et d'idées.

     

    LIRE LA BIOGRAPHIE

  • « Rapiécer, coudre, sont pour moi des gestes de guérison

    des façons de refermer les plaies qu’a laissées l’histoire.

    Ces gestes font écho à ma quête :

    comprendre comment recoudre le tissu déchiré des

    communautés.» 

     

     

    — EVA OBODO