Bits & Forms

   

Bits & Forms is a series of architectural forms and designs, in bits and snippets. Its various angles and textures were of  interest to me.From the cracked walls to the muddy walls, the rusty roofs, and the detailed textured designs on the structures, not forgetting the everyday accessories this structures are adorned with, like the cloths hanging to the tiny detail on the windows. It brings one to the consciousness of the vain nature of life and the simplicity of the same.

 



         


    

 


   


     


           


 

       


     


 
        


      

                                                                          (c) Chidinma Chinke, 2014 - 2015

My Art diary: UNSPOKEN PASSAGES

My Art diary: UNSPOKEN PASSAGES: Holding on to time – the physical, past, hidden, or written, cannot be overlooked. I enlisted the participation of my family, my father in...

UNSPOKEN PASSAGES

Holding on to time – the physical, past, hidden, or written, cannot be overlooked. I enlisted the participation of my family, my father in particular. He has told stories of the country he lived in while growing up, The Nigerian civil war, the riots, the Independence and others, but this part of him I felt strong about, telling time with objects he has gotten over time. In Osogbo, Osun state in Nigeria, in Susan Wenger’s home, similar images emerged of time, written, unspoken, and then spoken. What is written behind the mask, the writing on the wall, the object that lies still, we can only tell as time goes by.








 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 





 

In this series, I try to immerse myself in time, in history, in facts and myths. What is there to believe or not believe? I saw myself passing through and telling these times, and relating with it. I believe juxtaposing these images from different spaces into one space shows the commonness, the simple nature of adapting, of becoming, of telling the sacred nature of time.
Chidinma Chinke (c) 2015

Cultural Heritage Series - 'Food And Offerings'

 

Closed Alter_2014

 

The Food Culture is part of our cultural heritage. The bare necessity of eating and drinking, mealtimes, preparation, sacrifice…is a culture that is most times over looked as a subject matter.  I found myself fascinated with pictures around it.  This project has thus far delved into the spiritual as I kept working. Interesting to me was the aesthetics, the staged like platform for preparing meals, the formal and informal spaces where these meals are eaten, who eats them, who distributes them, the sacrificial shrines where these meals are offered, who eats the offering, other ephemerals around it, finding that which lies behind…? .

 

In Yoruba land as well as other tribes, deities are sacred and different people have different modes of worship to these gods. In Osun state (where a part of this body of work was made) for example, worship days are honored for the god called Olodumare. Others are in form of fraternities and various beliefs.  From the series we see pots / calabash which are symbolic in food preparations, eating and sacrifice.  They were found at various corners of the Osun-Osogbo groove.

 

Alters_2014 (2)

Interesting to me is how the simple stage of meal times at home, on the dinning table for example, are represented on the outside, be it at the formal or informal public spaces for eating, the mobile food hawker, or even at the alters like the religious spaces and functions where you have to give an offering by putting it in whatever form of offering bowl or basket in other to receive a reward in future. The journey continues...

                                                                  The Service_2014 (2)

'Untitled'

 

 

Offerings at Idinleke Temple_2014

 

 

 

Royal Priestess_2014 (1)

 

 

 

Recieve_2014

 

  

Royal Priestess_2014 (2)

 

The Service_2014 (3) 

 

 

 

Bonding_2014

 

 

 

Alters_2014 (1)

 

 

 All images are (c) Chidinma N.Chinke. 2015

 

Beauty, Much Ado About You...(Legs)

 Beauty, in the eyes of who?

 Hey! Look again, yes look at yourself... The shape of your face, your nose, you ears, your front (whatever that means...), your back (whatever that also means...) , ahaa, your legs... and all...

 
    
 
“Beauty itself is but the sensible image of the infinite” said once the historian George Bancroft. The nature of beauty is one of the most fascinating riddles of philosophy. Is beauty universal? How do we know it? How can we predispose ourselves to embrace it?



This narrative is born out of my personal experiences. I have been given various compliments about my legs for example, like...' hey you have a footballer's legs...' ...'hey your kinda legs are called sexy in Ghana' '...hey your legs are too big', '...your legs will look so good on heels...'

Some are nice while others are not. Here I decide do have that feel good time with how God made me. I look at myself again, and I'm glad I have what I have no matter the compliments. The appreciation of beauty takes place in an aesthetic attitude. This is the state of contemplating a subject with no other purpose than appreciating it.

So feel good about yourself. By the way, spot which are mine...

Thank you for your time.

                             

 

The appreciation of beauty, to sum up, is something that is worthwhile to cultivate, for its consequences and in itself.

images are (c) Chidinma C. 2014

 

Other reference;

What Is Beauty?

http://philosophy.about.com/od/Philosophical-Theories-Ideas/a/What-Is-Beauty.htm

By Andrea Borghini

The Entrepreneur : Mr. Ibidunni

****Deep breath*****

Ok, after a long time away from my blog,  here I am again. Yaaaay!!!

Happy 2015 everyone!!!

The Entrepreneur, is a diary of entrepreneurs, done in 2014, and still on. I begin with Mr. Ibidunni. He is a Carpenter and has been in the business since the 70s.  Despite the overwhelming challenges, societal and otherwise,  faced in the trade, he confesses he still enjoys his work.

 


 He has successesfully trained quite a number of people and watched them establish their  dreams of becoming the best they can be in the field. I came in contact with Mr Ibidunni when I moved home in 2014. He is a proffessional I must say. On one of the difficult challenge they face in the field - power supply, he believes things will be a lot easier when the government helps the people in this aspect.

 Mr Ibidunni at his space in Lagos, Nigeria.

Thank you for visiting.

All images (c) Chidinma C. 2015.