ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #94 | Page 37

Onyinye Alheri
ART Habens
awareness is not enough. You can not say
“oh now I know” and keep living as you
were. Nothing will change and the art will
become stagnant and empty. If you see a
work of mine and are inspired to do, think,
or see differently, I will feel satisfied with
the piece. There is a great quote I saw
written on a sidewalk that read “art should
comfort the disturbed and disturb the
comfortable” That is exactly how I think
about art and it’s merits within a political
discussion.
Symbols are everywhere and they permeate
my entire body of work. They bear special
importance to me because of my interest in
the occult. Symbols both convey and protect
sacred knowledge. They play tricks on
people and stimulate our many minds. I am
interested in symbols for their ability to
transcend spoken and written language and
capture universal concepts. I work with and
revel in ambiguity, making use of symbols
to both trick and inform audiences,
challenging them to create their own.
Archetypes are another area in which I have
much interest, and in my research have
come to understand how symbols can
represent different archetypes and
transmute their power into the material
realm. In the video poulet roullete I was
trying to show how two completely different
cultural systems, with no initial history of
contact could convey the same archetypes.
For me that piece was a lesson, that the
truth is already available and we all have
access to it (through what some may
understand as the collective unconscious),
though we may express our understanding
of it with completely different pictures and
strokes.
change anyone’s mind about my culture or
otherness. I changed my own mind and now
I must celebrate. My role as an artist is to
challenge and to question the pervasive
principles by which so many of us live our
lives; some may call it tradition, some may
call it conditioning. Not disruption for it’s
own sake but for the sake of creating a
world where there is less fear, judgement,
and separation. I do believe that art can
make people more aware of the issues that
their societies and people face. But
21
4
06
Special Issue