My Pains
Oil · 2017 474 views
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Details
- Category
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil
- Dimensions
- 48 × 43 in
- Year
- 2017
- Edition
- Unique piece
- Framed
- No
- Signed
- Yes
“My Pains” has been in my mind for a long time. I didn’t want to add the tears, because the expression itself shows hardship and violence. A woman’s rights being violated. A woman is a helper to a man, so I see no reason why she should be treated so rough, like a rag used in mopping floors. When we’re talking about women’s’ rights being violated, we’re not just talking. It’s something I have seen a lot in my area. It pains me. A woman as a mother is someone who sacrificed 9 months, put up with stress and struggle, to give birth to a child that is given the man’s name. The child is not hers, but belongs to her husband. Yet the man has no respect for her. Or in cases of early pregnancy, and the guy isn’t willing to take responsibility. Then the girl has to take care of herself and the child. Sometimes she has to drop out of school. Sometimes her parents kick her out of the house. “My Pains” talks about all of this. It’s about how I feel a woman should be treated.
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.
