Bruce Onobrakpeya was unafraid to challenge the conventions of the art world — and was celebrated for it. This giant of African art is basking in the joy of his first Smithsonian solo exhibition.
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The compound is an museum in its own right. The concrete yard is covered in sculptures, paintings and a range of murals, some which he describes as “plastographs” — a unique form of reliefs he innovated, with illustrations etched into zinc and metal sheets.Manny Jefferson/for NPR“I like to use different techniques. I want to show the public what they don't see that I, I think I see.
Onobrakpeya gained renown in the 1950s as a student at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria City, northern Nigeria. He became a founding member of an influential collective of artists later known as the “Zaria Radicals,” committed to decolonizing visual arts and reasserting Nigerian artistic methods and practices in synergy with Western ones. The collective inspired the guiding mission of his work.
In his depiction of the stations of the cross, Bruce Onobrakpeya brings African symbols and traditions into the story of the crucifixion. Above: At station six, Veronica wipes the face of Jesus.In Onobrakpeya’s vision, Jesus and the people he encountered as he bore the cross along a tortured journey to Mount Calvary are dressed in traditional clothing like— a dyed fabric covered in distinct, abstract patterns, made by Yoruba people in Southwest Nigeria.
He’s making the point that the African traditional symbols and cultures that were opposed by missionaries are still, to African Christian converts, an important part of their Christian identity. The works were displayed at St. Paul’s Church for almost 45 years, a source of personal pride, but were not beloved by the congregation. They were not seen as a reinterpretation but a distortion, according to Onobrakpeya, and were eventually taken down.
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