48 x 96"
Tar, Plaster, Acrylic, String, and Varnish on Panel, 2011
Pieter Hugo, Abdullahi Mohammed with Mainasara, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria, 2007
I was inspired to paint my work HYENA (see left) after attending an exhibition of the photographer Pieter Hugo's series The Hyena & Other Men in 2011. Hugo's work revealed to me a world of liminal places and communities in Nigeria, populated by traveling bands of circus performers and animal tamers adorned with ornate costumes in traditional colors. I was struck by the strong traingular compositions found in many of Hugo's square portraits, and I wanted to create an artwork that would play with the form and color of the circus as a symbol of this uncanny world of complex, codependent relationships in rural Nigerian communities.
Pieter Hugo, Mallam Mantari Lamal with Mainasara, Abuja, Nigeria, 2005
In Pieter Hugo's snapshots of life in these Nigerian borderlands, the traditional relationships between dominance and submission, wildness and domesticity, tradition and modernity are constantly subverted, and I wanted to create a work of art that reflected the vibrancy and complexity of the people featured in these photos.
Pieter Hugo, Abdullahi Mohammed with Gumu, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria, 2007
Note the dominant triangular composition in these photos. The strong poses of the men in these photos seems to project a complex sense of pride and relation to their communities.