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Mudi Yahaya’s
photography exhibition ‘The Ruptured Landscape’ came to a close with a
talk by the artist at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Lagos on
April 30.

Aside from an
opportunity to interact with the artist, Bisi Silva, curator at the
CCA, said the talk was intended as an avenue to see how Yahaya’s work
is highlighting new directions in art. She added that it was an
opportunity to get a better idea of his methodology and trajectory.

Yahaya refers to
his work as conceptual photography. He said of the exhibition, “It’s
about what we’ve become after colonialism and trying to explore
postcolonial identities that have emerged in black and diasporic
spaces.”

On display on the
gallery walls were images of men and women in various states of nudity.
Some of the photos were very striking, disquieting and almost grotesque
but they all expressed deep significance which the artist remarkably
elucidated.

Woman as subject

‘Black Woman
Unplugged’ is a series of photographs of the back view of a naked black
woman, leaning against a white wall, in different symbolic poses. “She
tries to negotiate how to break the wall,” said Yahaya, speaking of the
wall as some sort of barrier.

Asked why he chose
a woman to communicate the message, he replied, “When you talk about
identity, it leads you to sovereignty… So, her body is a sovereign
being. We are also looking at the source of production. The woman is
where it all comes out from. When you talk about the black female body
being objectified, I flipped it. Here she is the subject and not the
object.”

Another series
depict a naked and pregnant black woman. One of the images show her
bearing the paper cut-out face of a white man. There is distortion here
as her hands look masculine, and Silva and other participants seemed to
notice this.

In reply, the
artist said that he purposefully used lenses that would cause the image
to be somewhat distorted, hence the seemingly masculine hands of the
subject. “The ruptured landscape means things that have evolved or have
been distorted. So I am talking about different aspects in this
landscape and space we are in in Africa, that have been affected by
different stimuli, philosophy, culture, media. So we see little pockets
of different forms of identity that speak out,” he answered.

Hybrid versions of Christianity

In another series,
the artist uses a male subject, a naked man holding an antelope head to
his groin. According to Yahaya, each of the antelope horns represents
the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible.

“It’s about the
issue of sexuality and the challenge between the African church and the
Church of England. The Church of England says we now allow gay priests
and gay marriages,” he explained.

He added that,
“You can see the subject here; he is sort of tense and struggling with
some sense of sexuality and he is hiding behind the Old and the New
Testament. We received Christianity from the West and we now have
hybrids versions of Christianity.

“We received an
identity from the West. We were told to adjust the parameters and we
say no. Every image here is an identity that is hiding behind
something,” Yahaya said.

History of violence

“In all
postcolonial spaces, it’s an irony or a coincidence that the experience
after colonialism is usually civil war. Our identity is tied in
violence and we expect it. Elections are coming and we expect violence.
Our identities are scarred with violence,” he said, while discussing
another series images focusing on a bloodied man.

There are streaks
of bloody tears on his face and on his chest the words ‘I love Nigeria’
are inscribed in blood. According to the artist, “We die in the process
of loving this country.” Yahaya explained that all the images are named
after films that deal with tolerance.

The title of one
of the photographs, ‘Do the Right Thing’, takes its name from a Spike
Lee movie and shows a woman’s face with streaks of blood and bruises.
“You can see her, she has been badly bruised. So many things are wrong
and in Nigeria – they say a woman cannot bail a man out. ‘Do the Right
Thing’ is an identity in this space as well,” said the artist.

The artist turned
his attention to the image of a bare-chested bearded man holding a
bloodied knife: “Because you see him with a beard and a knife, if you
take ten Nigerians, eight will say he is a Muslim, but the truth is
that he could have been a Jehovah’s Witness,” he said.

“He could just
have killed a chicken. He could be a Cele priest or anything, but
because we identify violence with Islam, you see an image like this and
you assume it is Boko Haram,” he added.

Yahaya’s images all embody a system of semiotics that go beyond the
nude figures and bizarre images to explore strong social and political
issues.