Taiye Idahor has been on the Ulimuseum.com radar since her exhibition at Marker at the Dubai Art Fair earlier this year. We had an incredible opportunity to review her most significant body of works to date. 

 

 

 

What is the concept behind the DICE / CUBE installation?



My Dice installation was my very first conceptual work professionally. Like most of my work till now, it came about through material experimentation. I was just back from my one year youth service and I was ready to move beyond the usual materials I had been taught to work with which were fibre glass, metal, cement and plaster of paris.

It was really all about restructuring my process of creating art. I had learned to create art starting with an idea then moving on to finding the right material that suites it which was a great way of working. But I guess I wanted to change or switch this process around, of course the end product is an artwork eventually but a different kind which I think has more depth and creates more room for expanding a single idea.

So this is where it all began, when my art process changed from starting with an idea to starting with an object.  My sister had this pile of newspaper in her house which she eventually gives away to these men who collect and recycle them, so I collected them instead and re purposed them. Initially it started with the question “how strong can newspaper get when glue is applied and how much glue?”.

 

I started with making flat squares testing their durability and changing the amount on glue on each one, just like a research and eventually during this experimentation I had the opportunity to take part in my very first group exhibition outside the school gallery, hence these flat squares eventually grew to cubes and then finally dice. I probably wouldn’t have gotten to that point without experimenting in the very beginning.

The use of dice plays with the concept of chance, I find that “concept”  interesting and I see that everyday in my work. In this case it refers to life especially here in Lagos where I personally think that in most things we do, no matter how prepared we may be, always falls to chance. A result of an unstable society we live in? maybe or most likely, but it is the reality that exist today, a life chance and probability and it can be an adventurous but also stressful way to live.
 

And in a funny way, the installation also came about by the same concept of chance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did 'Hope' become part of this piece? Who does she represent? 

 

 

The same exhibition with the Dice moved from Lagos to another venue in Abuja and I thought it would be interesting to show the installation differently, without altering the idea but rather directing the concept of chance and probability in a particular path through the life of a woman, creating a stronger and more focused idea (at least that’s what I thought).Hope’s position is quite obvious to translate, she looks tired or maybe asleep or exhausted, its as though she’s thinking or lost in thought.

 

And I think she represents the reality of many women in Nigeria. Another way I like to see Hope is through her name, Hope is a name that is common around here. But its not just about the name “Hope”, I am also referring to all such kind of names like Faith, Perseverance, Patience, Virtue etc and how such names and even every other local names also play with the concept of  “chance” , do we really become what our names suggest or it all falls to chance and probability?

 

Hope also questions “What is in a name”? Especially in Nigeria where a name is supposedly very symbolic but at the same time can be contradictory to the individual’s reality hence the title “… and they named her Hope” which is contrary to her posture, so do we change our name if it doesn’t suite our present situation? Not likely and not impossible, all you need is an ad in the newspaper, “the change of name” pages.

These pages gave birth to the works I created after this project, the “change of name” series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting words can be observed upon close examination of the 'Hope' sculpture. Could you please elaborate on this? 

 

 

The words were direct expressions of her thoughts. The point of that was just to lead people into the work, though later I realized her posture was quite enough to do that but then again people found it easier to understand the whole installation.

 

 

Cartridges and newspaper appear to be a dominant feature in your works. Why have you chosen these particular materials?

 

 

Well I’m not sure if it’s a matter of choice or me choosing to use these materials. Newspaper was available and in a large number and so was the film cartridges which I happened to come across at the lab, a full bag of them, and from then on I started going back to collect.

 

I would say here that I am interested in quantity, large numbers. I have always had one or two film cartridges at home for my camera but it never appealed to me the same way as seeing a full bag of them, so I guess mass numbers of objects in one place appeals to me. Newspaper and film cartridges are the first materials I started to collect in large numbers without any prior thought to their use. I love working with newspaper and now I have consciously chosen to continue working with it because I think conceptually it’s a very strong medium especially because of its content, its function, how it plays with time and history as opposed to its very fragile nature. but as for the cartridge, I doubt it will continue to be present in my work.

 

I am inspired by my environment and the society I live in, hence film cartridges may not always express my thoughts. I do collect other things which I just keep until I find use for them. And besides, they are pretty scarce now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is your vision for your art? What drives you to create?

 

 

The main vision for my art is for it to grow and become accessible to a larger and more diverse audience, because I love the discussions that art raises. I also hope I can work on projects that relate to the environment as I think its probably one main reason I use waste objects, because no matter what idea or concept that’s behind any project I make there will always be that underlining issue of the environment just because of the kind of materials I use.

 

Creating art is a gift that anyone who possesses shouldn’t waste, so like any other profession, its my job so I feel mandated to create because I can and its fun at the same time. And what I create is based on things I see and I personally engage with everyday.

 

For example right now I’m doing a lot of work on the concept of hair, and at the same time I have joined the many African women who are beginning to transition to natural hair, of course this is not the reason I am working with hair but just to point out that my art is not so distant from my personal reality.