By JAPHET ALAKAM
Nike Art gallery is known to be a beehive of activities as visitors from far and wide come to the centre for the great artistic works, but penultimate week it was a different ball game as art collectors, patrons, art lovers and followers of Peju came specifically to see the latest creative offerings from a mixed media artist, Peju Alatise who organised a solo exhibition tagged Material Witness, an exhibition of artworks and installation projects .

As expected, the viewers were not disappointed with what they saw as large sized works done in different media by the artist spoke for themselves. In Material Witness, the Ladoke Akintola University trained architecture relishes her experiences in visual forms with the way the country is governed.

*Captain Red Tape, one of the works exhibited

The theme according to her is borne from an Idealistic yearning for justice and truth where it seems there is neither fear of retribution about issues concerning corruption nor caution in the infringement of human rights . And after three years research, the multi-talented artist used the body of her recent works to explore diverse ways in which materials can be transformed into creative vehicles.

In the works, Peju carefully uses materials overly exposed to human usage by reforming them into useful, even glorious objects. In some of the works, the array of materials are so many and mind boggling, but she is able to convert them into aesthetic instruments that render narrative codes.

In the works, the artist used variety of materials and mediums to tell a visual story. The materials used include recyclable glass bottles, plastic containers, newspapers, Nigerian-print fabrics, ropes, threads, wires, scrap metal, scrap wood, driftwood, sawdust, abandoned boat, sand, acrylic paints, resin, plaster-of-Paris, and stretched canvas.

In the work, materials were manipulated, recreated and drawn to their possible limits. And one important message here is that the materials are locally sourced and on the choice of the discarded materials Alatise said: “I am using them as a proper medium, I want people to see them as something that are noble and usuable. Every material you use is not supposed to be discarded in the future, but for you to keep and use. “

“The works displayed have three defined formal concerns that both motivate my subject matter and influence the materials with which the artworks are created: They are social/political/religious commentary, the idealistic versus the realistic, and Elements of Material Nature.” She said.

Some of the works exhibited include: Freedom is like a sailboat, That thing within, Compatriots, Purple Period(lest I forget 1,2,3) Half of the story, Where is her mother, Nine year old Bride, Captain red tape, Judgment day, The line up,The making of a flag, Inside they are broken, Blue monkeys and others

In her artistic statement Alatise further stated that Material Witness is both relevant to the matter at issue and is also required in order to resolve the matter. “In this instance the truth as experienced by the witness may not be the entire truth for it is mostly subjective to the witness, but remains nevertheless a critical contribution to arriving at the bigger truth.”

Material Witness is a body of artworks and installation projects with several layers of approach to them, all in search of truth; of which no one layer can remain independent of the others as it gives credence to others. The three main layers are the thematic, materials/medium and the technical execution of style. “