Artist in Focus: Bright Eke

In 2005 during a curatorial research visit to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka for the 2006 Dak’Art Biennale, Bright Eke was one of the artists whose work seemed compelling. Eke’s focus has been one of the topical issues in recent times; the environment and man’s gradual destruction of the ecosystem. In engaging with this theme, water has been his primary focus. Eke’s “Acid Rain” 2005 installation (an earlier version of “n the Verge of Doom” 2007) and the performative installation “Shield” 2005 which focused on the deplorable environmental situation in the Niger Delta both garnered much interest at his first professional outing at the 2006 Dakar Biennal of Contemporary African Art in Senegal. The two works also won him an ResArtis award – a month long all expenses paid residency at Djerassi in Santa Cruz near San Francisco, California, USA. This began a series of invitations to exhibitions and residencies in quick succession.

Over the past three years, Eke’s work has expanded considerably in format with performance and interactivity playing an integral aspect of his artistic practice. His residencies have allowed him to create such monumental work as “Natural Connection” 2008 produced for the International Festival for the Arts in Arnhem and “Confluence” 2008 for international exhibition “CodeShare” in Lithuania. The meteoric and unprecedented rise by this young Nigerian artist on the global art scene, has resulted in major awards from the UNESCO Aschberg Bursary to the Commonwealth Foundation Arts and Crafts Awards. In a short space of time, Eke has also been invited to participate in several major biennals and international exhibitions from Dakar to Cape Town to Sharjah, Paris to Thessaloniki, from Colombia to Trinidad and Lithuania. The trajectory of transnational artist.

The excerpt below is from an unpublished interview between curator Bisi Silva and artist Bright Eke in 2006.

Bisi Silva: Water is a recurring theme for you. It seems to be the central focus of your work. What is the genesis for this interest?

Bright Eke: It started as a quest for a new medium for my artistic statement. I was searching for something different especially with regards to my MFA programme. After stumbling into other media which people have been using, I wanted something more challenging. I thought in the line of solid liquid and gas but in the end chose water.

BS:You said you were looking for a something new. New in what context? What were you doing before?

BE: I had been looking at cement, wood, sand and other conventional materials that are familiar in our environment and I came up with water. From my observations not much has been done with it.

BS:What are the ideas and concepts that have interested you?

BE: I started thinking about what man has done to and with water, what water has done to man, what water has done to the environment. These ideas are developed in my work, Shields 2005/06. I used pure water sachets as my medium. In the bid to solve the problem of lack of portable water, another problem cropped up, that of litter. The disposal of these plastic sachets has always been a problem. I thought of ways I could use these pure water sachets to configure my statements about water.

BS:Can you tell me about Acid Rain 2005? Is it the first work in which you explored water?

BE: Acid Rain developed accidentally. When I wanted to work with water, I didn’t have anything in particular in mind until I went to Port Harcourt (Nigeria) and had direct experience of toxic rain whilst working on a construction site. It rained and drizzled. After two days I noticed that I had a skin irritation. I discussed it with a friend who was a doctor and he suggested that it was the effect of Acid Rain. This got me thinking about the idea, and how the experience could be reflected in my work.

I started asking about the cause of the acid rain and after research I discovered it was due to industrial emission. I was not surprised as Port Harcourt has a lot of industries especially in manufacturing and the oil production. In order to develop my idea I thought of something that is a direct product of the industry, that is harmful. I finally decided on a dry cell battery that contains ammonium chloride.

BS: Dak’Art 06 was your first major exhibition, first professional international outing and it has generated a lot of buzz, interest and rewards. It led to invitations in the Sharjah Biennale (April 2007) and Transcape Exhibition Cape Town March 2007. You have also received residency awards, one at Djerassi in Santa Cruz, near San Francisco and a UNESCO one in Colombia. Now a solo exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Lagos an opportunity even some who have been working for over a decade have yet to experience. So much international exposure naturally has its benefits but it can also be overwhelming for a young artist. Can you talk about these milestones so early in your professional career and development?

BE: Dakar was a big exposure as it gave me the creative confidence I have been searching for. In Nigeria, my works seems to raise controversy in its material and ideas. Maybe because it was different to what people are used to seeing. But interacting with artists in Dakar and the kind of works that were displayed really made me believe that I was on the right track. The residencies and biennials are real challenges. It is not all about traveling to distant places but about making an impact with my work and also gaining more knowledge.

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Bright Ugochukwu Eke was born in 1976 in Mbaise, Imo State,Nigeria. He attended the University of Nsukka and received a BA and MFA in Fine Arts (Sculpture). His recent exhibitions include “CODE SHARE”, Vilnius,Lithuania, 2009. In 2008 he participated in “Art, Migration, and Identity”, Arnhem-Netherlands, “ECho Wanted”, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, “Experimental Frontiers:Society through the Eyes of South African and Nigerian artists” Cape Town, South Africa and “WATER: Delight and Misery” Ifa Gallery Berlin.