DE NJE (My Mother)
2017 503 views
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Details
- Category
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 48 × 40 in
- Year
- 2017
- Edition
- Unique piece
- Framed
- No
- Signed
- Yes
The title means “my mother” in Irigwe, my local dialect spoken by Miango people from Bassa Local Government, in Plateau State, Nigeria. I painted this because I am just amazed at the love my mom feels for me. My mother has been a source of inspiration unlike any other mother. She has been life my eyes, seeing what I can’t see. She will go the whole night praying for me. I hear her. She prays that God should protect me, that he should bless me. Even when I am asleep, she is working hard to see that my life becomes better. She is very wise, and she knows life very well. She does everything to make sure that I have anything I want that is positive. She won’t sleep if I don’t sleep. When I am sick she is sick too. When I am crying she always wants to know why. The nje in this piece is backing a baby. I am not a baby anymore, but I think this is where that bond starts. Nigerian women tie their babies on their backs when they are working, or when the child is upset. For the child, his mother’s back is his comfort zone. From birth until he is 2 or 3, this is where he spends most of his time. When he cries, or gets hurt, or becomes sleepy, this is where he goes. He knows that when he sees mom taking out her wrapper, that piece of cloth she always uses, he will soon be in that safe place. I think that by the time we grow too big to be backed, that bond is already strong. We love our mothers.
Many peacebuilding and development professionals work from their offices for governments or NGOs. Emerging artist Luka Chohu (also known as Lucho) works out of his own small compound in the community of Angwan Juma’a, Jos, Nigeria. This is a place where people “hustle” from morning till night to provide for their families – a place where art is generally not encouraged as a viable career path. To be sure, this artist does his fair share of hustling. But in between, he finds time to stretch old sheets over hand-made wooden frames to engage in his own form of peacebuilding and development work. From his small studio, Lucho fuses his artistic talent with his passion for social justice, to communicate the joys and challenges of everyday life in Nigeria; promote peaceful coexistence; and develop the capacities of those around him. His interest in art began in secondary school: “I always had a story to tell. But because I was not good with words or numbers, there was no way for me to tell it.” He therefore began using paint to express his own experiences and feelings. Following secondary school, Lucho moved to the capital to understudy Abuja-based artist, Kelvin Ubani. He then began using his new skills to move his art into broader themes of social justice, inter-identity peacebuilding and the beauty of Nigerian cultures. The purpose of Lucho’s work is twofold. First, using various media, his own art beautifully and honestly presents the paradoxes, joys and challenges of everyday life in Nigeria. It acts as means for himself and others to step back from the daily “hustle,” make sense of what is, and imagine what could be. In the end, what is produced are pieces with both aesthetic value and the ability to communicate such realities to both local and international audiences. Second, Lucho dreams of also using his talent to increase the creative and communicative capacities of others, particularly children in Jos who cannot access proper education, either because of displacement or poverty. Through volunteer work with local NGOs and schools, he has begun gaining experience in this area creating programs for internally displaced and local children learn how to use art to express and value themselves. Truly, Lucho lives as an artist, a development worker, and a peacebuilder.
