Onyinye Alheri ART Habens of existence that is up to us to replicate. With that heady nonsense out of the way, I’ d have to admit that I do aspire to shock value for the sake of eliciting a response from viewers, whatever that may be. Let’ s leave it there.
Hmm, I started to touch on this in the beginning but let’ s go deeper. The quick answer is no, I do not consider audience reception to be crucial in my decisionmaking process, at least not initially. I always make a piece under the assumption that no one( or very few people) will ever actually see it. This is for two reasons: 1) Art is a meditative and healing process, not an opportunity to garner attention and 2) I care too much about others, and if I were to consider how an audience would receive a piece I would never finish it. I’ d get too stuck on making sure my point gets across, making sure the piece is not offensive, on and on. Now once the work has been completed and I’ m asked to showcase it, then the audience regains importance, for the reasons I mentioned before. Whatever they see is a raw production, and the critiques and conversations that follow are free to take whatever form the viewer wants.
I am currently taking a bit of a hiatus on my visual arts practice to focus more in depth on political projects. However, I do have visions for future video projects and am starting to play with sound and thinking of how to best use that medium in an inventive way. I am working on a series of audiovisual meditations and performances, though how and whether or not they will be exhibited is yet to be determined. Aside from that my main projects for this year will include ritual cloths and a tarot deck that make exclusive use of an ancient and secret west african symbology called Nsibidi. The African continent is wealthy in all ways, and I am excited to keep exploring and reclaiming the richness of spiritual, mystical knowledge that is hidden there. In terms of evolution, I would like to learn more techniques so as to build upon my mental toolbox for production. Thank you all for considering my work, and thank you, reader, for your time and thoughts.
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