Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Arts  

In Size Matters, Ozangeobuoma celebrates women

By Sunday Aikulola
19 December 2021   |   3:37 am
For the contemporary Nigerian artist, Orlu Prince Ozangeobuoma, the role of women in the development of any society cannot be overemphasised, hence they need to be celebrated.

For the contemporary Nigerian artist, Orlu Prince Ozangeobuoma, the role of women in the development of any society cannot be overemphasised, hence they need to be celebrated.

Speaking at his solo show at Signature-beyond Art Gallery in Lagos, recently, he said big-size women are his fantastic models, and he wants everybody to appreciate them.

He said, “Size Matters is my way of expressing this: a privilege to acknowledge the strength of women, to appreciate their beauty and natural endowment; and painting nude and fat figures for this exhibition was an experience for me. The inspiration for the theme came from a series of works some years back: “Modern Models.”

In addition, he said his works have endless experiences and expressions; stressing, “the more you look at it, the more you want to dig into it, the more you begin to ask yourself what, why, when or how? I have been able to manipulate this subject properly to the best of my ability because the works are not erotic.”

Ozangeobuoma said he is always not comfortable seeing people refer to fat people, especially women, as off-balance, off-shape or off-modern.

He said, “Everybody is beautiful in his or her own way: whether big, small, tall, fat. Slim, short, anyhow you see yourself, you are beautiful. This beauty is what I portray in this body of work.”

Similarly, Primrose Okechi Ochuba, a doctoral candidate in Art History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the concept of nudity evokes different emotions in different groups.

She observed that purity, pride, lack of morality, embarrassment and transparency are some of the concepts that foreground discussions surrounding a persons desire to show skin.

Quoting Italian philosopher, Marlo Perniola, who described nakedness as a sign of sin and degradation as well as a sign of truth, innocence, audacity and authenticity, she said, “in contemporary times, however, it has become unclear what counts as nudity.”

According to her, “while in the arts, nudity is valourised, in the real world; however, it is received with varied sentiments. Nonetheless we can agree that the duality between vulnerability and power are persuasive tools that nudity wields.”

Twenty works were exhibited at theshow, which ran from December 4 to 12, 2021.

0 Comments