New Telegraph

Still & Searching: Adeniyi’s solo exhibition explores themes of sisterhood, contemplation

Sisterhood, contemplation, introspection and extrospection are some of the themes in Still & Searching, Deborah Detoun Adeniyi‘s first solo exhibition in Lagos, which opened penultimate weekend at Untitled at SO.NNE, Maitama Sule Street, Ikoyi. This coming of age exhibition, which is also an inaugural presentation by the cell co, developed as “a compilation of retorts to a thunderbolt, and thrown into a state of partial displacement. The artist attempts to recalibrate intricate details that make up personal identification.” While contemplating, examining perspectives at large and how to harness it for self-conception, Adeniyi infuses symbolisms that depict her natural environment, physical bare form and existence. The artist aims to maintain a stillness juxtaposed with a chaotic context through the whimsical scenery, searching for what was once had, now lost yet unknown.

Her work is expressionist in nature with figurative tendencies, using allegories from global culture, places from imagined memory, she dotes on themes that reflect her personal identity, exploring her sensibilities and artistic awareness. “The representation of her subjects is critical, female figures, imagined or layered. She uses mosaic on her subjects to introduce an open ended existence pulling the audience in to interrogate the complexities of being lying behind the face,” notes Arinola Olowoporoku, who is curator of the exhibition, and the founder of the cell co.

“Searching, she added, connotes to move around or look through carefully in order to find something missing or lost, to explore or examine an idea or a person in order to discover. The exhibition, Still and Searching… invites us to exist and navigate parallel worlds, a play on the idea of searching the very act that requires movement while still, devoid of movement and arrested in motion.”

The paintings in this body of work were achieved through experimentation and using the canvas as a method of collection of her thoughts, as medium of ex-pression, therapeutic routine and as a learning opportunity for personal development. This process offers infinite opportunity of self-representation covering blackness, sisterhood, femininity and cultural identity befitting contemporary conversations regarding social and political subject matter. Adeniyi is a self-taught, full-time contemporary artist who explores her subjects, mainly portraiture of women, through assumed identity.

Her positioning, composition, surroundings and narrative have expressionist styles. Born in the UK (1992), Adeniyi lived in Lagos in her early years before relocating to the UK all within early childhood. All her life she has identified and experimented with varying mediums including performance art, fine and visual art, whether in formal and informal settings with her childhood littered with an array of classes, performances and initiatives that all contributes her intentional and unintended artistic development.

Adeniyi’s bicultural view comes with the need to satisfy a nagging curiosity, her early work was based on exploring the existing tension caused by the divide of her Eurocentric environment and geographical culture and her Nigerian background, heritage and cultural identity. Having spent most of her life in the UK, there’s been a notion of displacement feeling far yet close and strange but familiar to her home country. She approaches her work interrogating her fit into both worlds.

She holds a bachelors degree in Accounting & Finance, University of Kent and has worked the majority of the decade in the financial services sector. A fated culmination of a tragedy, continuous global thunderbolts and a forced reality where reflection, introspection and interrogation intertwine required an unrestrained portal – her canvas. Through her artistic process she finds therapy, she articulates complex emotion influenced by the steady uncertainty. Plunging herself into the deep end, her debut showcase was a series of acrylic paintings conceived in the process, exhibited in The Hull Room, Brixton August 2021 in a solo show titled ‘Inspired by Her’.

Through her work, Adeniyi seeks to evoke emotions in people unaware, emotions that may have formerly gone unperturbed. A principal focus of Adeniyi’s work is femininity, her representation of women is critical to the narrative being presented. She is meticulous about her depiction of black skin highlighting the complexity in variation carefully fluid without limit or expectation. Adeniyi is keen on exploring and challenging the portrayal of blackness, femininity and traversing personal struggles pertaining to contemporary discourse, youth culture and global identity. She is interested in experimenting with mixed media on canvas such as embellishments, intertwining materials, methods and 3D objects to achieve a holistic presentation of thoughts and ideas evoking dialogue, memories and emotions.

Olowoporoku, is an art and cultural curator. In her six year career in the arts, she has curated a myriad of shows from photo festivals to art fairs and traditional exhibitions. She designs specific exhibitions, experiential installations, art in public spaces, workshops and panel discussions. Olowoporoku has engaged and managed daunting project teams for different platforms including LagosPhoto Festival, Art Summit Nigeria, Venice Biennale: Nigeria in Venice, iDesign Art, Sterling Bank’s RecyclArt, National Art Competition, Women’s Film Club and others. In addition, she has curated seven editions of iDesign Art, a quarterly affordable art fair with over 100 newly discovered works, style, medium and up to thirty artists in every edition following a categorical theme or trend of exploration. Other shows she curated include LagosPhoto special projects such as The Arrival: The Nigerian Collective 2019, Photo 17: The Director’s Series, Platforms 2016, Turn it up: the paradox (a solo exhibition for Jide Odukoya) by Horniman Museum 2019 and iDesign Art: Female Artists Exhibition 2020. Also, Olowoporoku is an influential pop-culture personality. She was a housemate on Big Brother Naija Season 6.

She is an advocate for freedom of self-expression and unorthodox ideas. Olowoporoku explained that the cell co. is a creative pathway company specialising in providing a progressively evolving platform for visual artists in Nigeria, Africa and the diaspora. “We engage in grass roots development of artists, creatives and initiatives ranging from curatorial practice, cultural production, literature and career development, and cross sectional art direction. We focus on multidisciplinary collaboration and co-creation with the ultimate vision of holistically validating African visual artists laterally. Everything begins in the cell,” she said.

Read Previous

Excitement as Thespian Family Theatre presents Sowande’s Mammy Water’s Wedding

Read Next

Mainstreaming gender parity, the Kwara example

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *