Nigerian painter Eniwaye Oluwaseyi wants to change the outlook on albinos and SARS
Nigerian artist Eniwaye Oluwaseyi wants to change the outlook on albinos.
Here, in front of his exhibition at the ADA art gallery, in Accra, in December 2020 © Marine Jeannin / RFI
Text by: Marine Jeannin Follow
6 min
The young artist is exhibiting at the end of 2020 at the ADA art gallery, in Accra, Ghana.
His paintings, powerful and engaged, seek to denounce the excesses of the controversial force of SARS in Nigeria, but also the fate of a persecuted community: that of people with albinism.
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From our correspondent in Accra,
Eniwaye Oluwaseyi is 26 years old, with a slender figure and dreamy eyes.
The young painter is exhibited for the first time in
Accra
, at the new contemporary art gallery ADA, under the title “Politics of shared spaces”.
“
In the beginning, I wanted to be an architect,” he
says.
In architecture, we use the concept of shared space for those places where people coexist, meet, discuss.
I wanted to reinvest this concept to dream of an ideal, a peaceful shared space, without conflicts.
“Concepts that are very topical in Nigeria, which he only left in time to attend the opening.
In October,
the Nigerian authorities dismantled the Special Theft Repression
Squad
(SARS)
, a hotly contested police unit, after a week of strong popular mobilization.
The SARS was accused of extortion
, unlawful arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings.
A theme that can be found in Eniwaye Oluwaseyi's paintings: a series of three portraits represents young men in front of whom a shooting target is placed.
The tragic fate of the albino community
“
I wouldn't define my art as political,”
explains the young painter, “
but I seek to arouse social comment.
After the paintings on SARS, another series attracts attention: three portraits of
people with albinism
, a man and two women.
The model of these portraits, says Eniwaye Oluwaseyi with a moved smile, is none other than his own sister, suffering from this genetic anomaly.
“
In sub-Saharan Africa, albinos are ostracized, out of ignorance.
Sometimes even killed.
"
In some countries, such as Burundi and Tanzania, some albinos are indeed hunted down and dismembered for witchcraft rituals.
In 2017,
the Albinos Foundation launched an initiative called “Albinism Rights Project”
to call for respect for the human rights of albinos in Nigeria.
“
People should know what it is really about when we talk about this category of people,”
argues Eniwaye Oluwaseyi.
In the African community, we have an ambivalent relationship with albinos.
They are considered Africans, but… not quite either.
We don't treat them as our own.
Why
?
"
Nigerian artist Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, in front of his exhibition at ADA Art Gallery, Accra.
© Marine Jeannin / RFI
A new generation of artists emerging on Instagram
“The Politics of Shared Spaces” is the first exhibition of the young artist, who only started painting in 2019. “
After four years of monochrome drawing, I started painting because for me, colors are a way to express his feelings, he
says.
I wanted to communicate with more finesse.
"
Eniwaye Oluwaseyi's paintings are not only exhibited in this gallery in Accra, but also and especially on social networks.
It is also
that allowed him to access this first consecration.
“
I didn't find him, he found me,”
jokes Adora Mba, the director of the ADA gallery.
I believe he sent me a private message, or that he tagged me on one of his posts.
Today, young artists use Instagram as a portfolio, and it makes them known much more easily.
"
What appealed to her about Eniwaye Oluwaseyi's work, she explains, beyond the beauty of the paintings, was the power of their symbolic significance.
"
And meaningless art isn't really art, is it
?"
Only pretty designs
”.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Eniwaye Oluwaseyi (@eniwaye_seyi)
Create a painting representation for people with albinism
Among his inspirations, Eniwaye Oluwaseyi cites Barkley L. Hendricks, Toyin Odutola and Njideka Akunyili Crosby.
“
I was very influenced by the lights of Barkley L. Hendricks.
He has a way of capturing blacks, with vibrant colors, reflections… Like him, I use bright colors in clothes and backgrounds to bring out the black of subjects' skin.
"
He also quotes Kerry James Marshall, a Chicago painter known for his majestic portraits of African Americans.
“
I remember an interview with Kerry James Marshall,”
says Eniwaye Oluwaseyi,
where he said that when he went to the museum, he only saw Renaissance paintings of white people.
It made me think of the albino community.
In how many exhibitions can we see portraits of people with albinism
?
Imagine a young albino girl who has been told all her life that she is African.
But when she goes to an exhibition, and she only sees people with black skin.
The question she will ask herself is
: "Who will represent my skin color
?"
"
This question, Eniwaye Oluwaseyi tried to answer on his scale.
And as he is asked if his sister liked the portraits he made of her, he contents himself with a concise answer and a smile: “A
lot
.
"
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