By Japhet Alakam

After its successful hosting of the much acclaimed music dance drama, SARO 2 The Musical which rounded up its activities for the year 2014, the nation’s culture house Terra Kulture opened its door of activities for the year with an exhibition by 20 year old second year student of engineering at the University of Warwick,UK, Nissi Ogulu tagged NORRD Phenomenon.

The exhibition which was her first solo in Nigeria which opened on January 3rd till 9th was somehow a departure from the usual exhibitions in the country. According to the artist, it was called NORRD because “it’s the phenomenon of my life, its putting together all the inspirations I have acquired over the last years and making it one.” It featured about 21 works done in acrylic on canvass, oil and other media in the course of the years.

It can be described as a collection of contemporary art entwined with a bit of nostalgia. It consists of works created by an artist one would refer to as an old soul. Art pieces displayed include, painting of a “Massai” Warrior from East Africa, abstract piece which serves as a reflection of the current times among other thought evoking art works.

The works include her signature technique called Camouflage Series as well as the O’Afrique series (pieces which were inspired by Africa), Uber series ( pieces which were inspired by her creative mindset at the time) and 3D series.

A critical view of the works reveals the creative ingenuity of the artist, her imagination, use of colours and the masterly interpretation of ideas. The aesthetics, colour combination and depth of the works were excellent and this was reflected with the way the viewers hugged and congratulated her. An act that was traced to her family background, coming from a family of creative geniuses, her grandfather was a veteran broadcaster and award winning music critic, Benson Idonije, her older brother A-list musical artiste; Burna Boy, little wonder at such tender age she produced such works. Nissi Ogulu is not only a wild soul of deep creative thoughts, but also an Afro Jazz singer with an admirable mastery of different musical instruments.

In her artistic statement, Nissi said”There is never a defined demographic in mind during the creative process of my work, everyone is welcome to have a look as I introduce my collection.” and this was the case in the gallery as people asked her about the works. The works dealt with a whole of issues ranging from her experiences as a child, the emotions, the beauty of African women and the mothers role.

For example on the piece titled Inconspicuous beauty, the work which was based on the Masaa-Mara region of Kenya, reflects on the true beauty of the African woman concealed by constant chaos, depicting the inward,outward , landscape nature of African woman. According to her, “the West say Africans are not beautiful and I want to tell them that it is false as the image shows, despite their domestic chores and other challenges African woman is still beautiful”. Another piece titled Blissful Night, which she described as her best talked about her younger years. “In doing the piece I have to get the image of a child and pour water on the face. Its an inspiration that takes me back to my younger days when as a child we play under the rain and did all sorts of dirty things, but now we are grown and are all thinking about the stress of life, how to wake money and others.”

Nissi who explained that she just want people to view the works and appreciate it for what it is said , “Nigeria art is growing, but that we are a bit narrow minded to the tools and materials we use but I think that there a lot of potentials in Nigerian art. I have seen an increase in the use of colours as I go around. We have a long way to go in regards to changing our concept and that is why I am bringing something different for people to see.”