Gerald Chukwuma : A PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING BECOMES A POSSIBILITY

Fluid figures, plants, swirling symbols and geometric patterns are burnt, chiselled and painted on to panels of wood to create vast, intricate compositions that hang alongside shimmering chainmail tapestries of hammered metal cans. This impressive new body of work by the Nigerian artist Gerald Chukwuma has been almost four years in the making, with each piece gradually evolving through a collaborative and deeply meditative process. For Chukwuma, this approach signals an important turning point in his practice in which he explores instinctive mark marking and communal effort as a way of accessing the spiritual realm or ‘a place where everything becomes a possibility.’

Drawing on the traditions of Igbo culture and specifically the concept of igwebuike which encourages communal harmony as a form of resilience and prosperity, Chukwuma’s artistic practice has always embraced collective ways of working. He believes that everyone is born an artist and sees himself in the role of a director who guides the work in the studio by uniting different ways of thinking. This approach not only subverts the traditionally Western perspective of the singular, genius artist but also enables Chukwuma to create a more nurturing, sustainable and productive working structure which he likens to ‘a family’. He has been working with the same group of people for almost ten years; they come together every day not just to create, but to eat and share knowledge. These complex and varied interactions are visible in the work through different techniques of mark making, but it is also a harmony that can be felt rather than seen. As Chukwuma notes, ‘There is something spectacular about communal effort in an art piece. What people experience when they encounter the work is the coming together of ideas and the heartbeats of many people – no matter how good you are as an artist, that is something you can never create alone.’

 

Many of the pieces in this latest show were started during the Covid pandemic when the ability to source materials was limited and Chukwuma’s studio became not only a site of production, but also support and solidarity. They began first by experimenting with tying together leftover metal cans, eventually weaving these strings into large-scale compositions which were then burnt to strip away the colour. The result is a series of silver and golden tapestries that were born, as titles such as Spirit Bloom and Spirit Whispers suggest, out of an intuitive and communal process. ‘In Igbo culture there is this idea that the spiritual world influences and guides the living. My quest is to find out how to consciously harness and interact with the spiritual through the making of art,’ explains Chukwuma. ‘It’s not a new concept: African art has historically called on the spiritual realm, but it is only now that contemporary audiences are taking interest and finding value in such objects.’

 

The wood-panelled works similarly evolved over time, with layers of detail gradually being added until each composition revealed itself as a whole. In Weaving Dreams, we encounter a golden forest where the trees appear in swirling pools of liquid, their trunks and branches inscribed with symbols and complex patterns while Eternal Bonds makes reference to the Igbo concept of umuaka or extended family through the silhouettes of two figures connected not physically but by the waves of patterns that pulse through them. Elsewhere, in works such as Echoes of the Soul or Celestial Soulscape, the imagery is more abstract, encouraging the viewer to find meaning in the texture, colour and movement of the forms.

 

Ultimately, what these works offer is a transcendental experience that goes beyond the purely visual to invite viewers to discover more expansive ways of seeing art and the world around them.