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Eghwere by Bruce Onobrakpeya 2010, Mixed Media and installation 1.6m X 3m Picture taken courtesy of Dele Jegede |
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Eghwere is the Urhobo muse for successful hunting. It is
used by Bruce Onobrakpeya as a metaphor for reflecting on man’s quest and struggle for survival. His
efforts in different fields of endeavor is likened to those of hunters equipped
with bows, arrows, cutlasses and guns with which they hunt down game for food
and his other requirements.
Similarly the pen, compass, camera, computer, microscope
etc though modern implements, also
become tools in man's hands for achieving set goals that will help him to survive and improve his life.
Adapting the traditional shrine composition, the above
concept have led to the creation of installations which show man as an achiever
and crowned for his efforts with success. He is seen dressed, as a masquerade
that has been embellished with many trophies, and is located in an imaginary
forest dotted with standing pillars that double as trees and animals
Like the traditional shrine, these installation
changes with time . Some of the objects within
one background may be renewed with fresh colours or even replaced . Whereas
the traditional shrine tends to remain fixed in one setting, the new
experiments by Bruce are nomadic in the sense that they may
often be moved from one exhibition site to the other, and for sheer compositional
excitement, the objects in different
installations are nearly always interchangeable to form other groups.