The culture and heritage of my dear Nigeria
Now onto the image, I wonder what would happen if all the kids were light skinned.
I am a Nigerian and my work is about exploring my culture and heritage. The inspiration from this painting came from that scene were the new bride arrives into her new home in the village. Children come out to welcome her into her matrimony home of her new husband.
The new wife is affectionately called "Our wife".
It's a scene that plays out in old Nigerian cultures.
So what do you see when you look at this image? Do you see colour?
So if you saw this scene in real life right before your eyes, would you say this is colourism? I feel sometimes we react based on our own personal narrative and that is perfectly fine, we all have our stories and backgrounds that influence our thought processes.
I have found different people have different interpretation of the work I create, which is essentially down to a personal taste and disposition.
The painting isn't about colourism and colonialism, it's about an African journey, culture and heritage.