A multimedia artist, Modupeola Fadugba, says she has revved up styles, skills and a niche that the world needs to know about and this much she would be conveying in her debut solo exhibition in Nigeria, tagged: Heads Up, Keep Swimming.
Described as a fast-rising star, Fadugba’s launch is coming at the time the ArtXLagos Contemporary African Art weekend is dictating the social and fun spaces of Lagos, Nigeria’s centre of excellence.
Groomed in diverse backgrounds, the Harvard trained multimedia artist interestingly has degrees in engineering, economics, and education and such diversities she espouses in her over 30 works put up at the exhibition floor of the Temple Muse, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Born of Nigerian diplomat parents, Fadugba grew up in England and the United States, from where she learnt and honed skills that subsequently inspired her deep commitment to use her art to fight for global access to education, especially for girls while exploring positive role models for women of colour.
In the list of her works at the solo exhibition, Fadugba has paints of clusters of female swimmers, sometimes with the shadow of a red ball shimmering through a glistening, under-water landscape, with burn patches of paper looking like water bubbles breaking to the water surface.
“Through this, I am conveying to the world, especially artists, the need for them to be patience and reflective before taking a dive into the bubbling and tempestuous waters of the art world. I am also implying that there is a need to retain their identity and voice while learning the rules of winning in art as a career path,” Fadugba said.
Thrilled by what she saw in a visit to Ibadan school sometimes last year, Fadugba said her “awesome experience” dictated the paint, titled: “Ibadan synchronized female swimmers”. But as if she has not had enough of that experience, the award-winning artist said her exhibition opened with a live performance by the synchronized female swimmers from the Ibadan International School, performing against the backdrop of her work.
“Together we can go farther. Each individual plays her part to benefit the collective,” Fadugba, who just returned from an artist residency in Casablanca, Morocco, said.
Notably in the ‘Heads or Tails’ series, she uses burnt paper coins to depict the importance of female representation on national symbols. For this exhibition, she created a paper coin work with the face of Dr. Stella Adedevoh, the celebrated Nigerian doctor of the First Consultant Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos, who identified the first Ebola victim in 2014, led her colleagues to confront the menace and got the local and international health authorities on alert, all of the efforts that eventually paved way for Nigeria to defeat the pandemic.
“Having successfully prevented an epidemic in the most populous city in Africa, we can only wonder what would have been, if not for Dr. Adadevoh’s efforts and that of her colleagues. She lost her life for many of ours. A true hero, Dr. Adedevoh is (a) HEADS (in my art),” Fadugba said.
The exhibition’s curator, Sandra Obiago said Heads Up, Keep Swimming explores the intricate balance between competition vis-à-vis cooperation within the stormy sea of the commercially driven global art scene.
“This exhibition presents exciting new works by Fadugba’s intricate, partially burned drawings on paper depicting female synchronized swimmers, red ballsand gold leaf high lights,speak to winning in the ‘game of life’ while considering the importance of cooperation and communal values.
“Already, her works have drawn phenomenal interest in New York, London, and Paris this year, as she critiques feminism, social justice and education through an innovative game theory which has attracted international collectors and art enthusiasts across the world. And for us at the SMO Contemporary Art, we are delighted to finally present Fadugba’s first solo exhibition in Nigeria to much local anticipation and this we are doing with the active support of the Zircon Marine, Zenith Capital and VeuveCliquot,” Obiago said.
Avinash Wadhwani, the Director of Temple Muse, on his part said: “We are delighted to present the amazing works of Modupeola Fadugba for our third exhibition this year, coinciding with the start of the ArtXLagos weekend. The exhibition is already opened to the public and it will be on till November 27, 2017.”
