bloodlines
bloodlines
bloodlines
bloodlines
bloodlines
THE “UNBROKEN” SERIES
The “UNBROKEN” series is a series within the Bloodlines Collection that examines the trajectory of human existence from the very first man and the very first woman. It is the story of the courage and strength of every generation whose existence has guaranteed that the collective human race continues.
Ighiwiyisi expresses this idea through her repeated use of the “time stamp” created specifically to depict the many conduits through which the line of life has passed, leaving in its wake an unbroken heritage, replete with strength and honour.
UNBROKEN
The “UNBROKEN” series is a collection within the Bloodlines exhibition that examines the repeated use of the “time stamp” created specifically to depict the many conduits through which the line of life has passed, leaving in its wake an unbroken heritage, replete with strength and honour.
bloodlines
THE UNBROKEN SERIES
IYEKE
“Iyeke” is the Edo word for “behind or back.” In this series, Ighiwiyisi uses it to document memory. The ability to remember and revisit a person or a thing is a distinctly human one. Through Iyeke, Ighiwiyisi honours the memory of all who fought to ensure her own survival. Ighiwiyisi reminds everyone who views this work to remember that the past never goes away. It deserves to be honoured, but it must be approached carefully. One must be cautious, when one visits, not to get trapped within it.
ODARO
“Odaro” is “front” in Edo. For Ighiwiyisi, this work is all hope. It represents the dreams we lull ourselves to sleep with at night. There is only possibility here. No regrets, no pain. Only potential. Only hope.“Iyeke” is the Edo word for “behind or back.” In this series, Ighiwiyisi uses it to document memory. The ability to remember and revisit a person or a thing is a distinctly human one. Through Iyeke, Ighiwiyisi honours the memory of all who fought to ensure her own survival. Ighiwiyisi reminds everyone who views this work to remember that the past never goes away. It deserves to be honoured, but it must be approached carefully. One must be cautious, when one visits, not to get trapped within it.
adeseleva
“Adeseleva”, also an Edo word, means “in- between or middle”. This work, for Ighiwiyisi, represents the present. The “balance of time”. For her, the present is the hardest to embrace. The past holds loved ones lost, the future loved ones unborn. The present, however, is the one that demands the most strength. The most wisdom. Within its womb is the key to happiness. Without the present, all we have is memory and hope. The present is the balance between both.
bloodlines
THE FORGOTTEN SERIES
The Forgotten are a pair of abstract works that attempt to capture what might be described as markings etched on a wall by someone for whom this was the only means of documenting a great loss.
Created as a nod to the many who were “taken” from their homes to far away lands unknown, some of them never to be heard from again, these etchings are the marks that remain of them over time.
In sharp contrast to the name of this series, the aim of these works is to immortalise them. The hope is that, through these works, they remain alive where they can never die.
In memory.
In our hearts.
bloodlines
DREAMSCAPE SERIES
This series comprises three abstracts that brave that deeply mysterious realm that Ighiwiyisi calls “Dreamscape.” We all know it as the realm to which we are invited at the end of each day.
For some, this interaction begins and ends with the shutting and opening of the eyes. It is a place to escape to only when the tasks of each day are completed. And yet, for others, it is a constant state of existence. The lines between worlds are not as distinct as they are for others.
Dreamscape honors the dreamers in the bloodline. The fluidity of each piece is eventually matched by a form that is almost cartographic in nature. A fitting expression for a realm that one could very easily get lost in.
“Imina” is the Edo word for “dream.”
bloodlines
SONOGRAM SERIES
Of all of the series in this collection, “The Sonogram Series” was the quickest to render.
Similar to the click of an aperture, this series seeks to link present day technology to past existence. Its aim is to capture what those of us in the present take for granted – the first glimpse of a child in the womb.
Ighiwiyisi imagines a conversation across time. A conversation between two women separated by time, but united by a shared experience – pregnancy. A profound connection that is invariably lacking in the ability to communicate current technology to someone who lived in the past and who would find it impossible to understand the existence of such a wonder. Someone whose reality meant that the first time they got to see their babies would be after they were born…alive or not.
Ighiwiyisi tries to sketch what an unborn child in the womb might look like to a mother who lived 500 years ago. She hopes that it conveys the sacred moment in time that is unique to motherhood. The hope and awesome responsibility of carrying another life inside.
bloodlines
SONOGRAM SERIES
Of all of the series in this collection, “The Sonogram Series” was the quickest to render.
Similar to the click of an aperture, this series seeks to link present day technology to past existence. Its aim is to capture what those of us in the present take for granted – the first glimpse of a child in the womb.
Ighiwiyisi imagines a conversation across time. A conversation between two women separated by time, but united by a shared experience – pregnancy. A profound connection that is invariably lacking in the ability to communicate current technology to someone who lived in the past and who would find it impossible to understand the existence of such a wonder. Someone whose reality meant that the first time they got to see their babies would be after they were born…alive or not.
Ighiwiyisi tries to sketch what an unborn child in the womb might look like to a mother who lived 500 years ago. She hopes that it conveys the sacred moment in time that is unique to motherhood. The hope and awesome responsibility of carrying another life inside.
bloodlines
THE EDÈ SERIES
The creation of “The Edè Series” was a masterstroke for the entire collection. It is the first time Ighiwiyisi sees that the red accents within this exhibition interpret to “language.”
“Edè” is the Yoruba word for language. The first piece in this series is titled “Labalaba”, which is also the Yoruba word for “butterfly”.
To understand the significance of this series, one must first understand its significance to the artist herself. Ighiwiyisi draws inspiration for this work from one of her two nearest ancestors – her mother.
In the wake of a stroke that would rob her of speech for a time, Ikpakpa fought to regain her power of communication. Driven by the desire all humans have to be heard, she would utter her first word, “labalaba”. It was the beginning of a long battle to recover her ability to speak again.
In honour of her mother’s strength, a fusion of the strength of the many who went before her, Ighiwiyisi captures the power of language. The mysterious way it is able to both bind us and separate us. The journey that every human being must embark on – one way or another.
bloodlines
bloodlines
CONSTELLATIONS
The penultimate series in the Bloodlines Collection, “Constellations” is the artist’s way of honouring the majestic existence of heavenly bodies and how they bear witness to the bloodlines of men.
Celestial by design, they hover above us. Speaking, bearing record, stewards of a kingdom just outside the reach of men. Ighiwiyisi looks up at a sky that has existed for millennia and tries to imagine what her ancestors saw.
Were there falling stars? Hurricanes? Did they humble men centuries ago the way they humble men to this day? Will these bodies still be here five hundred years from now? What would they say? What would they bear witness of? Will mankind be closer or farther from their awesome reach?
bloodlines
CONSTELLATIONS
The penultimate series in the Bloodlines Collection, “Constellations” is the artist’s way of honouring the majestic existence of heavenly bodies and how they bear witness to the bloodlines of men.
Celestial by design, they hover above us. Speaking, bearing record, stewards of a kingdom just outside the reach of men. Ighiwiyisi looks up at a sky that has existed for millennia and tries to imagine what her ancestors saw.
Were there falling stars? Hurricanes? Did they humble men centuries ago the way they humble men to this day? Will these bodies still be here five hundred years from now? What would they say? What would they bear witness of? Will mankind be closer or farther from their awesome reach?
bloodlines
CONSTELLATIONS
The penultimate series in the Bloodlines Collection, “Constellations” is the artist’s way of honouring the majestic existence of heavenly bodies and how they bear witness to the bloodlines of men.
Celestial by design, they hover above us. Speaking, bearing record, stewards of a kingdom just outside the reach of men. Ighiwiyisi looks up at a sky that has existed for millennia and tries to imagine what her ancestors saw.
Were there falling stars? Hurricanes? Did they humble men centuries ago the way they humble men to this day? Will these bodies still be here five hundred years from now? What would they say? What would they bear witness of? Will mankind be closer or farther from their awesome reach?
bloodlines
ÙGHÈGBÈ (IMAGO DEI)
Ùghègbè is at the heart of the entire collection. It is an abstraction because of what it seeks to represent.
When God made mankind, He made us all in His image and likeness. Ùghègbè means “to look at one’s self or mirror” in Edo language.
It represents the speaking spirit that was breathed out in the beginning. It shows a hazy image. Amorphous. Still in the process of “becoming”.
It is a reminder that we were created to be reflections of God. His genius, His beauty, His Spirit. We are not separate.
We are His body.
We have His breath.
bloodlines
GLYPHS
The final series in the Bloodlines Collection is titled “Glyphs.” Although it was rendered last, this series was the first step in the journey that led to the entire collection.
In an attempt to fill time, Ighiwiyisi spent 2023 learning a fourth language. In her quest to understand what she was being taught, she discovered a truth that is just as liberating as it is humbling. The only way to truly learn a thing is to be humble enough to admit that you don’t know it.
Ighiwiyisi found herself looking to the youngest among the human race for their courage and ravenous appetite. This remarkable trait that children possess, combined with the blissful absence of that horrible learned experience called shame, ensures their quick and lifelong grasp of the world around them.
She found that learning a language means being brave enough to sound silly at first and not care what anyone thinks. That language itself, is older than men and must be honoured if it is to be wielded well. And finally, that language, like any other weapon, must be studied patiently and with respect.
“Glyphs” is her ode to meaning. To “baby steps”. To stumbling…and to getting back up.
bloodlines
GLYPHS
The final series in the Bloodlines Collection is titled “Glyphs.” Although it was rendered last, this series was the first step in the journey that led to the entire collection.
In an attempt to fill time, Ighiwiyisi spent 2023 learning a fourth language. In her quest to understand what she was being taught, she discovered a truth that is just as liberating as it is humbling. The only way to truly learn a thing is to be humble enough to admit that you don’t know it.
Ighiwiyisi found herself looking to the youngest among the human race for their courage and ravenous appetite. This remarkable trait that children possess, combined with the blissful absence of that horrible learned experience called shame, ensures their quick and lifelong grasp of the world around them.
She found that learning a language means being brave enough to sound silly at first and not care what anyone thinks. That language itself, is older than men and must be honoured if it is to be wielded well. And finally, that language, like any other weapon, must be studied patiently and with respect.
“Glyphs” is her ode to meaning. To “baby steps”. To stumbling…and to getting back up.
bloodlines
Sidamaryhelwa is the last of Ighiwiyisi’s Stars of the North. The largest of all the works in the bloodlines exhibition, Sidamaryhelwa dominates because of her vertical connection. Her upturned face is a reflection of her view of her world.
Her power lies in her uncanny ability to find the light, no matter how dark the day.
Sida is who we go to when our convictions run low. She is who we must become in order to outlast wind and storm.
Her smile is not because she is blind to what is happening around her, but because her eyes are open to who she carries within
bloodlines
One of the more poignant pieces in this collection, Iyare is Ighiwiyisi’s depiction of the painful journey that many within her bloodline would have had to make as they were taken from their homes to lands unknown.
To ignore this part of the story of her ancestors would be to dishonor the very strength she seeks to celebrate through this body of work.
The reality Ighiwiyisi tries to depict in this painting is stark and unending. For her, this is the view from a slave ship making the crossing across treacherous waters. It is the view that her captured ancestors were no doubt denied, crammed as they would undoubtedly have been, far below deck.
It would be the view of her ancestors cast adrift after their ship was wrecked by storm. hanging on to wooden rafters for dear life, Ighiwiyisi imagines their despair as the echoes of the prayer their families back home prayed upon departure, filled their hearts.
“Ìyárè o!” they would have whispered. Unable to pry their loved ones away from those who captured them, they would have prayed for a safe journey and that they would meet again.
Many would die at sea.
Many would die on land.
Many there were, many their songs.
We remember them as we believe they would want to be remembered.
Free.
