Lagos (Commonwealth Union)_As COP27 rang alarm bells on the earth’s very survival, artists around the world added their voices to the explosive ecological disaster that is bound to come sooner rather than later. Renowned for her powerful messages on the environment and the consequences of human-prompted carelessness that has led to large scale ecological disasters, Nigerian artist Amarachi Okafor decided to use discarded cigarette butts in some of her forty-two works she unveiled at the Red Door Gallery in Lagos in her latest exhibition.
The idea is to highlight that human beings’ actions, no matter the scale, have led to the impending extinction of survival as we know it. Even the smallest of actions will eventually add up, which is what has brought on these unprecedented levels of global warming.
The exhibition titled ‘Announcing beauty, mercy, kindness and love’, is a rare retrospective exhibition which brings together twenty years of Okafor’s critically acclaimed work. The exhibition will feature a selection of rare paintings, installations and sculptures which are being shown for the first time, also highlighting the evolution of Okafor’s work and her commitment to cascading her message on environmental awareness.
Okafor is a firm believer that each individual can transmit tenderness and beauty to each other. She also spotlights that even the smallest of items, like cigarette butts, can eventually have a major negative impact on that beauty and tenderness. She wants to spark dialogue and action among communities and beyond encouraging people to show kindness to others, which then transcends to showing responsibility for individual actions, a foundation upon which communities are built.
Okafor currently lives in Abuja and has practiced art internationally in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and Asia, creating paintings and sculptures and participating in public art projects and artist residencies where she can inspire and influence the observations and experiences of people, cultures and society.
Okafor was a recipient of the prestigious UNESCO Aschberg artists’ award where she had an international residence at Lademoen Kustnerverksteder Norway and was also conferred the Commonwealth Foundation Commonwealth Connections Grant where she travelled to London and the Bahamas for research and exhibition. She is a graduate of Falmouth University UK.
