By Prisca Sam-Duru

Why is there a conflict between Africaness and modernization? Why has the hybridisation of these two elements failed to benefit Africa?

What is wrong with the notion of a technologically advanced Africa? Why do Africans themselves believe this notion is “unafrican”

What is it about the cultural DNA of Africans that refuses to accept the practical laws of physics that the African citizen is subject to? Are other cultures, races or people that have applied the principles of economics, science and technology for the development and advancement of their people, without any cultural identities?

Artists Adesoji Adesina and Uthman Wahaab in Hybrid Theory, a body of work that raises rhetorical questions around narratives on identity and representation, attempt to address the supposedly inability of Africans to apply themselves to the mechanism that enables modernisation through the application of the laws of economics, science and technology.

Through Hybrid Theory a joint exhinition which opened September 25, 2014 at Signature Beyond Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos, the artists warn about the dangers of not curbing retrogressive ways of thinking and acting which are typical of Africans.

With the use of diverse medium such as mixture of acrylic, general purpose white glue and poly filler with a combination of pastel, charcoals, conte and oil bars, the artists display through an intense visual representation of concepts on African identity and Africanism.

Array of works

The exhibition which draws to a close 10th October, has over 30 works on display. Centripetal force 1 & 2, Exaltation of the Monkey 1 & 2, are some of the titles on display. Centripetal force features a man in a gas mask who portrays metaphorically, exchange of culture of globalisation.

It speaks against the erroneous believe that Africa alone has sound culture and so can use culture to solve every problem. Exaltation of the monkey is a metaphor used to address the narrative that black man is a monkey.

Interestingly, blacks have long fought against this notion as Africans face several shades of racism even in international football competitions. It is rather painful that Africans remain unable to change the stereotypes especially, since the issues that branded them monkeys are still haunting them.

The duo insist the problem is not in the colour but what the skin is representing; poverty, underdevelopment, etc.

The Yaba College of Technology graduates explained that the idea of hybrid theory which was conceived after series of observation and casual interactions with friends and colleagues on the lingering challenges confronting Africa nations today, is a metaphor for the human ability to subdue catastrophe by innovating and reinventing oneself afresh irrespective of racial and cultural differences.

The presentation of subjects using unique forms, signs and objects they explained, “Is a form of protest to the prevailing notion by Africans that all her problems can be solved by applying African traditional and cultural logic which by the way is what is regarded as “African” to problems requiring proven and specific economic and scientific solutions which is now regarded as “unafrican”.

This misguided need to prove to the other the uniqueness of the “African solution” has continuously led Africa down the path of poverty, disease and chronic underdevelopment.”

On why the works are massive human bodies, the artists noted that, “The human body is a unique piece of biological engineering.

It determines a lot in how differentiation is made in terms of race. But in the context of this project the body is stripped of this differentiating ability and the concept of unifying all human physiology is established…using Afro hair and garden shears as metaphor to that part of us (the mindset) which needs to be taken care of in order to allow and enable the spirit of modernisation.

Afro hair in this context represents the usual notion of Africaness that boxes us in the realm of stagnation. The masking (breathing apparatus) represents the process of invention through innovation and hybridisation.”

They are also of the view
that “The negative and backward notion held by Africans about the ‘Africaness’ of their identity has created societies that are synonymous to poverty, diseases and squalor.

To break the bond, the erroneously held views by Africans must change. Africans need to adapt to and adopt the productive parts of modernisation and not the myopic and unproductive part of modernity that Africans want to identify with.”

Noticeable in the works are the subdued hues in the project which “were to better help emphasise the drawings so that the visual characteristics of the artists’ style of drawing are pushed to the fore. It is therefore a deliberate idea in relation to the process of developing an invention or innovation.”