Rewriting canons and honoring our ancestors in the present- This work follows my new investigation of capturing the essence of one’s spirit and intrinsic energy using cowries as a portal of gaze and object of corporeality called “ÀṢẸ  AESTHETICS”. This energy which is their “ÀṢẸ ” is a spatially polychronic Yoruba concept of command, energy, power (given or received), authority, creativity, and divine life force in all living and non-living things. The work seeks to transcend the multiplicities of time and spatiality by engaging in a different conception of the reality of seeing and being in the world. How will this shift in understanding evolve our quest for meaning and purpose? How do we invoke, exercise, and activate ÀṢẸ toward an understanding of the interconnectivity of the human experience? How can futures be reimagined, reconstructed, and reenvisioned with ÀṢẸ? What would the world look like when we begin to see ourselves as higher beings who have the power (ÀṢẸ ) to manifest (pà àse) and evocatively challenge and redefine our existential conditions?

VILLAGER's paintings, soft sculptures, assemblage, cyanotype prints, photographs, installations, audio-visual media, and performance art pieces, investigate humanity as a product of culture and social systems through an afro-diasporic lens. By incorporating visual and material elements from their personal experiences in both cultural landscapes of Nigeria and the US, VILLAGER endeavors to scrutinize, deconstruct, and redefine the existential and paradoxical question of what it means to be a “Contemporary African." 

You can explore more from VILLAGER at vllager.com