Rituals and Reflections
In late January, I wrote an article,” Good Reasons to Put Abuja on the 2023 Art Watchlist.” In that account, I previewed what to expect this year. After recent events like the Abuja Open House, the city continues to surprise us with its unusual art spaces. As we race towards the end of this calendar year, reflection on gems is in order.
By Segun Ade-Martins
Dance is always energetic, However, when you combine elements like fire, water, writing, mirrors, and dance what do you get? The musings of a fully engaged person.
On May 13, the doors opened to Hearts Heartist Creative Centre for Rituals and Reflections, a performance installation that explores the themes of care and nurturing, interior vs. exterior, identity, reflection and perception, and self-expression. For Oluwabukunmi Olukitibi, she decides to share emotions and experiences, some sweet, some sour, but she shares them as a gift (encouraging self-care).
Deep in the heart of a creative is the need to express what lies there. For some, it might be dark trauma, while for others, it is benevolent, uplifting philosophy, and for others, it is not just what they express but how they convey their deep emotions.
Olukitibi opened the exhibition with a talk to frame the reason for and contents of the exhibition. In the background, a silent video played as she shared the meaning behind this body of work. As you know, performance art, particularly through dance and motion, can be ephemeral, even if it is captured on video for posterity. And Olukitibi delves into the relationships, roles, and experiences of mothers.
The talk lasts for almost an hour as she passionately discusses each stage of the creative and curatorial process of the body of work. In the video, she has short vignettes of the people closest to her in poses of intimacy, hugging. Later in the video, she can be seen in what looks like the process of dressing up with a friend, but in the context of digging into the wardrobe of her mother.
Rituals and Reflections is the result of a collaboration with Take Some Leave Some, a multidisciplinary performance collective that uses original sound, choreography, film, and installations to create experiences reflecting and celebrating black women in our lives. Shwang Out is an intimate, experimental gathering at Links Hall that gives “a call to-your-girlfriend-before-going-out” and “playing in your-grandmother’s closet.”
Building on that, Olukitibi had writings spread across the walls, some typed and some handwritten with burn marks on the paper, as well as circular, brightly coloured paper fans. On the wall hung a horizontal frame with broken pieces of mirror arranged in a spiral pattern. On a stool was a long tag explaining the presence of hair pieces on another stool. In the corner stood a dress decorated with pieces of a broken mirror.
After the talk and the video projection were finished, she proceeded to get her hair woven by her collaborators and members of the audience. The intimate hall buzzed with the interweaving of the audience examining the writings on the wall, the mirror-shard dress, and the mirror-shard frame. And then, when her hair weaving was complete, Olukitibi signaled to the audience to create space in the middle of the room.
There, she performed the most sensual and energetic dance that involved wearing the mirror-shard dress. As she energetically twisted and contorted through the space, at that moment, the beauty of the exhibition might have come flooding to a few perceptive audience members. From the talk to the uplifting messages on the wall to the elements representing themes of deep experience, Rituals and Reflections is an expression of pure emotion.
Pure, unfettered emotion is what you get when you combine elements like fire, water, writing, mirrors, and dance as the finale. After the dance, the emotions poured from Olukitibi like a fresh spring as she personally thanked and hugged most, if not all, of the audience.
Viewers were awed and wowed as memories of childhood came flooding to them. The audience was treated to one last gift as she encouraged them to pick from a jar of papers. Excitement, shock, and despair touched all that drew from the lottery. One read “Practice yoga for a healthy body” and another read, “Nourish your body with only healthy and nutritious food.” Gifts of life’s lessons from an artist to her friends
Originally published at http://thestrangejournal.wordpress.com on November 16, 2023.
