The work examines how religion and spirituality are used as survival tools by oppressed people, and it took more than a year to make.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, we can’t deny Victor’s importance within the context of Nigeria, within the context of West Africa, within the context of the African continent,” said Péjú Oshin, an associate director of Gagosian who curated the exhibition. “But more importantly, he is playing a role globally. It’s partly for the world to do a bit of catching up to be a part of that conversation with him.”
Growing up in Nigeria in the 1970s, Mr. Ehikhamenor was surrounded by the various artistic pursuits of his family. One grandfather was a blacksmith, and the other would hang up the works of Mr. Ehikhamenor’s photographer uncle, gallery-style, in his living room. He also drew with chalk for family ceremonies, a material that Mr. Ehikhamenor uses when he sketches out his ideas for his rosary tapestries.
“My grandmother was a weaver,” Mr. Ehikhamenor said, “and I watched my mother paint her own walls, so I replicated what they were doing.” Visual art was not taught in school, however. So as an undergraduate at a university in Nigeria, he instead pursued a degree in English and literature.
“I realized the power that a writer has at a very early age,” he said. When he was a child, women in the village asked him to write letters for them to their family members who lived elsewhere. “Sometimes I would be writing for them, and I would insert, ‘Buy a ball for Victor,’” he said with a laugh.
He has continued to write extensively and has published two books: “Sordid Rituals,” a book of poetry, and “Excuse Me: One Nigerian’s Funny Outsized Reality,” a compilation of essays.
Ginanne Brownell
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