Oghagbon exhibit Cultures of Uhola

Oghagbon Moses, "Collective effort 2", oil on canvas, 2018.

Mathew B. Oyedele

In December 2018, Weave and Co. gallery held an art exhibition of paintings by Oghagbon Moses, a Nigerian painter and photographer whose passion for Nigerian cultural landscape remains evergreen. The show was themed "Colours of Uhola".

Uhola is an annual cultural festival of the people of Zuru, Kebbi state, Nigeria, meant to appreciate God for abundant harvest. And, Oghagbon, with dexterity and meticulousness, captures the colours, actions, movements and gestures of the festival.

Within the context of the exhibition, Oghagbon delineates culture as the chord that connects the people of Zuru. He therefore depicts the people as embodiments and custodians of culture. Paintings like "collective effort","experience" and "the way we are" attests to this fact.

Oghagbon Moses, "The way we are 2", oil on canvas, 2018.

The struggles, growth and history of Kebbi state are all written in the faces of the artist's subjects in "Experience" series. They are paintings of old men with wrinkles and scars on their faces. The subjects are depicted reminiscing, maybe, on the acts of the past that may be transferred to today and tomorrow's wisdom.

"Zuru" also captures the cultural potency of the landscape. It is a painting in which traditional architectures in receding distance occupies the picture plane. The painting is devoid of sky-scrappers, exotic cars, and wide road network. The dusty environment is retained and the ambience is devoid of the hustling and bustling of a city life.

And then Oghagbon is fascinated by the sensation of the horizon. He is enticed by the illusion that is created by the meeting of the earth and the sky, as well as the illumination of the sun. He also loves the arrangement of houses in receding distance and the reflection of the skyline on lands, trees, houses and waters.

Oghagbon stormed the Nigerian art scene with his annual exhibition of Argungu Festival but soon discovered that the boundless crucible of culture in Nigeria is not limited to Argungu. He therefore set out to capture the narratives of Nigerian cultures in robust visual images.

Colours of Uhola is just one of the many projects to come from Oghagbon under his "Tour Nigeria" project.

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