Information:

ADDRESS:

The Alchemy Experiment

157 Byres Road, G12 8TS

Glasgow

PREVIEW EVENING:

Friday 28th July 19.00-21.00

OPENING HOURS:

Monday - Saturday. 9.00-18.00

Sunday 10.00-18.00

ARTIST LINKS:

@nkem_dilim

www.mrlc.shop

28.07.23 NKEM OKWECHIME

Ikenga Series

06.08.23 FREE ENTRY

This exhibition is part of a manifesto for the unique Republic that I populate with my South London/Scottish/Nigerian experience. I am trying to show a vision that is based in my black cultural background and community without compromising – another voice to expose the beauty in the ordinary and a perspective which connects mixed/black working-class culture and the world of fine art and beyond. Although I see my work as deliberate social commentary, I hope it is beautiful to look at, highlighting and celebrating traditional African culture alongside images of a strong and positive current British culture and community.

Recently I've been exploring Igbo Spirituality. In Igbo culture, ‘Ikenga’ is a personal shrine and is associated with various attributes such as success, achievement, courage and leadership. It is believed to be a source of inspiration and encouragement to overcome challenges and achieve goals. In this exhibition I respectfully use the central image of the Ikenga, which is a widely found artifact and very powerful in Igbo culture.

Ikenga means 'place of strength/strength of movement&'; and is a horned Alusi or deity and is owned and tended by men, and occasionally powerful and respected women.
Importantly Ikenga is regarded as holding a person's Chi - his personal god, his Ndichie - his ancestors, their right hand, power, and is representative of achievement. It is a spiritual focus through prayer and sacrifice and can be personal or communal. Its symbolism is very complex and multi-layered.

My use of this image is also complex and comes from a desire to connect to my family’s culture and understand its relevance to where I find himself now in a European environment.

I am experimenting with screen printing on ceramics using images I created through collages of Ikenga images. The photoshopped images are broken up, turning the into a pattern. These coded images, this method of taking a complex image and creating a pattern is what I ultimately used and screen print onto ceramic tiles.

Nkem Okwechime

I am a Scottish/Nigerian South London born artist/printmaker based in Glasgow. I graduated last summer from Glasgow School of Art with a degree in painting and printmaking. I also won the Glasgow Print Studio Prize. My interest is almost entirely in printmaking and I specialise mainly in screen printing, photography and lithography.

In the past few years I’ve been looking into my own identity. When I was 12 I moved from South London, one of the blackest populated areas in the UK to Dundee where I lived for 9 years. It was a difficult transition living in a predominantly white town with a very different culture and the internal and external conflict that I felt during this time subliminally started me thinking about the differences and
contradictions in myself, ethnically and culturally. This ultimately led me to finding out much more about my Nigerian heritage and becoming even more connected with my life and family in London.

The context of my work is documenting and celebrating my identity. I think artists narrate a personal story using themselves, their history and their surroundings to create a unique view of our existence. We recognise ourselves in our surroundings. I am using my identity as a person, both divided and brought together by several cultures to observe, document and most of all, celebrate my environment.

I am inspired by the cultural traditions from my father’s side of the family, to try and represent all the best aspects of my background and to project this into my art and hopefully reveal my own unique cultural perspective and identity. I use screen printing to produce both my African influenced designs and studio prints.

Purchase enquires - contact us at staff@alchemyexperiment.com