by Ifeoluwa Olutayo
At the centre of expression, outside of the joining of mind and soul on the canvas, there exists a need (among many) to bend the gifts of Earth and human ingenuity into new forms that express ideas, ideas that burn a hole in our subconscious, that sit with us in familiar rooms, trying to explain their need to exist to us. For Femi Okediji, the medium that bridges that understanding is sculpture, and the idea that sets him alight is the appreciation of women and womanhood.
I found the manifestation of that very idea before I found the artist sitting patiently, nestled between the two precise locations of his sculptures at the +234 Art Fair.
There’s a need to bend form to fit what should be. I pose the question.
“I have been around long enough to know this; if there’s going to be profound changes in the world, it will be borne out of the efforts of a woman or women.”
Femi believes so strongly in this that he seeks to express their importance in his work’s poses and intersecting curves. To him, the appreciation also extends into the sensual, something he accepts responsibility for, given he is a man, but it doesn’t stop there. He tries to communicate, through his sculptures, a need to turn our attention to a neglected and underappreciated community, a crucial part of every facet of our existence. He tries to journal in resin, bronze and wood carvings the struggles and challenges of women and life as best as he can, with what he can see and what he can intuit, working only in the strength of the opinion that it is important to hammer and shape minds and hearts through his work.
With Red Rose, a wooden carving propped with a metal rod and a dress carved into the wood sporting intricate lace stones in flowery renditions (lace stones are a recurring part of his work), he seeks to finally give expression to the statement, “Give women their flowers.”
This, he says to me wide-eyed, like a believer trying to convert an unrepentant sinner. I know not how to express that I am already devoted to this religion but I appreciate the efforts made on my behalf. I am focused on the exquisite rose apparently handed to this representation of womanhood by Femi.
He doesn’t only seek to appreciate the female form but he also wants to tell stories about the struggles and their triumphs, their happy moments and those of uncertainty.
With Fear of the Unknown, he regals us in deftly moulded bronze with the tale of a pregnant woman, her hands draped over her protruding stomach, as if to protect her unborn child from the world it will emerge into. I like to see it not only as an act of fear, but one of promised support, given freely to those she will call her own, just as her other arm supports her seated figure.
He tells more of an uncertain tale with the semi-abstract resin piece titled The Waiting Room. In this manipulation of form, we are invited to accept life’s inconsistent beats as a naturally recurring phenomenon, one that we must live with. To him, the female form encapsulates all the tales of humanity and we must view that encompassing wonder as something precious to behold, even in these uncertain moments. After all, the Earth that we dwell on is a She.
He navigates me to the last of his pieces on display at the Art Fair, titled Shakara. It is a resin sculpture that represents the happiness, class, elegance and grace of women, even in the face of all Life (read also as men) has thrown at them, time and time again.
She struts, confidence imbued in how she’s positioned, suspended and impervious to the troubles of the world she exists in.
With the work on display at the Art Fair, Femi calls on the help of his tools to grace the world with his understanding of the female form, struggles and resilience.
Another artist at the fair, badoats, represents the female form in a bid to make sense of what he views as their fashion and aesthetic.
“I grew up in a home populated by women and I’ve always been fascinated by their energy, how they love, viewing their essence and their fashion as this surreal alien thing, you know, because I’m a dude.”
For him, this piqued his interest, referring to a distinct energy he sees around their self-expression. That is what he tries to represent with his art.
The forms he draws are glamorous, confident, decked out with jewellery and for him, there is so much that women can do with how they choose to represent themselves.
He doesn’t try to pretend to be an authoritative figure on the subject, but for him, he’s always had that interest and that interest translates to his art.
His blend of surreal and hyper-tech in his digital art is spectacular to watch unfold and the women in his work stand powerfully in the frame, no matter what the expressions are.
The confidence and independence of Self stands out, as I navigate the work he has on display. He plays with an array of colours, a marriage of hues that dance on the edge of bursting, with a shine that emerges in resplendent triumph.
The shine is not the shine of brush only but of a man looking into the sun and rendering what he finds there.
The Divine.
He aims to embody the coolness and the specific aura that he gleans from the women in his life and put it on display, in the hopes that we too get a sense of the wonder they are and hopefully open up a window for us to peer through.
Both artists’ works represent the female form bending it through different mediums to arrive at the same destination; a curiosity, love and appreciation for women and womanhood.
