OMOLIGHO UDENTA: DUST AND PETALS EXHIBITION (YUSUF GRILLO GALLERY, YABA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY)

Omoligho Udenta was born in 1968 and graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in Industrial Design from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1989. She also earned a Masters degree in Art History from the University of Lagos and is currently pursuing a PhD in Industrial Design from her alma mater. Udenta presently lectures at the Graphic Design Department of the Yaba College of Technology Lagos.

[ Here is what she have to say about what inpsired her the theme Dust and Petals and her choice of flowers as a leitmotif ]

Dust represents the cycle of life to me—Dust we are and to it we shall return. These works use petals and flowers as a metaphor for humanity in its varied journey. I find that I am drawn to foliage and flowers. I am still in the process of figuring out why, but I think I may be attracted to them because although they may have no voice, they show when they are affected by environmental or other factors. They respond clearly for instance, when they are well nourished or not, and when they have enough sunlight or not. This is unlike man who is adept at masking his thoughts and emotions.

Humans attribute characteristics to flowers. They respond almost spontaneously to flowers. I wanted to create flowers that embodied my messages.


[ And her work process...]

My work tends to focus on nature and the passage of time, and in the process of cutting and piecing together the few hundred or so petals it took to make some of these flowers, I was given the opportunity to meditate on the process of creation. Being made in the likeness of God, the greatest Creator, and therefore, created a creative being, I have often pondered upon and marvelled at the magnificence and occasional ‘awkwardness’ of some of His creations. I have, for years, been fascinated by parallels and interrelationships between all things nature. The Chinese seem to be in the forefront of expounding theories about physical attributes and their relationship with the character or nature of the individual. I remember reading a book when I was about ten years old about the relationship between facial features and the character or future of an individual. For years, I went around estimating how long people would live based on how large their earlobes were, and trying to determine if there truly was a correlation between facial features and character.