There are three things I’m currently looking forward to: Nigerian politicians not gaslighting us, the appropriate time to start singing Mariah Carey Christmas songs and visiting Tonia Nneji’s You May Enter exhibition at the Rele Art Gallery. Luckily, out of my current list of hopes and dreams, one of these things can happen this weekend.
Tonia Nneji’s first solo exhibition, You May Enter is an ode to pain, trauma and women’s bodies. Nneji’s brightly coloured canvases subvert traditional notions of pain and trauma as muted, greyed-out melancholic scenes, mirroring her belief that ‘sadness does not have to be in black and white or grey and brown’. Challenging these preconceived notions of the silencing of pain, which might I add, is also wildly disproportionately targetted towards women, she presents her female subjects in different poses of vulnerability. It’s a refreshing, dare I say bold, confrontation of traditions and cultures that prop up shame that surrounds pain.
Which is why exhibitions like You May Enter are important as they shatter expectations that pain should be silenced. That pain should be dealt with quietly and in private. That pain is shameful. In some pieces in You May Enter, female subjects are seen in varying poses of vulnerability, figures are curled up against each other in foetal positions and vibrant fabrics are draped around the figures. Safe spaces are created, support systems are encouraged and healing is visible.
Born in Imo State, Nigeria, Tonia Nneji comes from a long line of traditional carvers and masquerade carriers. Following the family tradition of artistry, she graduated with a B.A (Hons) in Visual Arts from the University of Lagos, Nigeria in 2016. Her recent paintings display gracefully women’s bodies draped in colourful print fabric. Her preoccupation with bodies and textiles navigate cultural and societal meanings of fabric in contemporary African societies. She notes, ‘ I use drapery as a tool of hiding, to represent protection, a safe space’.
Tonia Nneji
There’s something comforting about the pieces in You May Enter. Maybe it’s how Nneji seamlessly invites us into a world of complexities. A world where trauma and healing, isolation and companionship, dialogue and solidarity are all made to co-exist on a canvas.
If you do anything this weekend, check out Tonia Nneji’s You May Enter exhibition at Rele Art Gallery.
