Opening Event:
Saturday, 30 April
18-22h
music curated by deadHYPE
Adeolu Osibodu is an artist from Lagos, Nigeria. His engagement with photography started at the age of 18 out of the urge to manifest his thoughts. Using this media, he was able to preserve the energy of time plus convey a certain mood. Taking pictures of peculiar scenes, plants, clouds or sun rays coming though an open window, photography almost became therapeutic - and felt like home again.
As time went on, he began to explore ideas of surrealism and used his digital toolkit to apply more dreamy concepts. His visual journal then allowed the artist to enter a world of timeless image-making. The exhibition introduces works from Osibodu’s recent series LOSING Amos and Saggio.
LOSING Amos
My Grandfather, Pa Amos Olufemi Adelaja, died late 2014. It was until about then I realized how casual my idea of him was. I constantly asked myself why I couldn’t see beyond his heavy grins. Why I couldn’t define him as more than the man who was never not glad. Was that all there was or did I just completely miss connecting to my ancestor? Was there a chance we could have been a lot closer and then, maybe I could have even inherited his hunting rifle? These were the unsettling thoughts that meddled with my conscience. Not the fact of losing someone, but of not understanding their identity.
On the self-portraits I am wearing Aso-Oke fabrics that my grandfather owned. Maybe this series is inspired by an urge to find consolation or my intimate affection for a time before being ‘Adeolu'. Regardless, I am forever glad I happen to find myself in this state and connect to Ilisan-Remo, Ijebu, our hometown, where my mum and her siblings were raised.
SAGGIO - Heads of my friend
I am drawn to the idea of selves and just how many identities live inside a person. Imagine a compilation of your past personalities all coming together in different bodies. Nostalgia plays a strong role in this. I reference the past and the foul concept of time. Hence this work, ‘Saggio - Heads of my friend’, Adedolapo Boluwatife (nicknamed Saggio) along with some images of myself and my brother Mayowa. All photographed in spaces that make time look rigid and non-fleeting. Supporting the fact that you never really can pause anything. Time always flows and never asks for permission.