Kadara Enyeasi, 2016
Abetí ajá (Dog Eared Cap)
Created by Kadara Enyeasi in 2016. The artwork is displayed at 100 x 100 cm.
What strikes you about this experimental collage portrait by the Nigerian photographer Kadara Enyeasi? It might be the large graphic letters, or it is the leafy branch suspended from the subject’s ear? The subject, portrayed ‘en profil’, is mirrored in the background. This double portrait is surrounded by various coloured and checkered areas, reminiscent of the graphic patterns of African textile designs. The graphic elements also refer to the principles of the modernists, such as the architect Le Corbusier, known for his minimalist and formalist designs. The ambivalent references to both African and western traditions are inspired by the ‘Arodan’ principle: a Yoruba custom of keeping children occupied and out of the way by sending them in search of something that doesn’t exist. The hidden message in Enyeasi’s work is humorous and desperate in equal measure: the dressed-up men hurtling through the image embody a complaint against the anti-homosexual laws of the artist’s home country of Nigeria.
© Kadara Enyeasi, courtesy of the Foam Collection