PORTFOLIO-8

LET ME BE MYSELF

By Nii B. Andrews [04/08/2017]

LET ME BE MYSELF: Akwele Suma Glory, mixed media- paper, cloth, canvas, acrylic, wood. 132 x 87cm. 2010. Signed with title at mid lowest portion. Provenance- Private Collection; purchased from the artist.

Akwele Suma Glory is a trained journalist and self taught artist.

She has not hesitated in using and experimenting with readily available materials for her art predicated on both choice and necessity.

“LET ME BE MYSELF” looks zoomorphic; the jute tufts at the lower end give the impression of a truncated tail with the upper end of the piece showing the fore quarters.

There appears to be a nexus of the beautiful and ugly; both intimately conjoined throughout the work.

We know of course that one cannot exist without the other – beauty and ugliness.

In essence that is what it takes to be human; the summary of the human condition.

The surface displays variegated textures reflecting its multi modal nature of canvas and parchment paper, the latter fabricated by the artist herself.

The surface is not flat either; it is thrown up in relief, undulating in places like a landscape or animal hide showing up as shades of ochre, blues and greens.

Perhaps tongue in cheek, we find script that indicates the first three letters of Ogyakrom, then off to the side, the appellation “nation builder”.

Is Akwele Suma Glory riffing on womanhood as a mix of glamor and fear/dislike/hatred by others?

Or is she making a more universal or gender neutral statement that is also valid?

2 thoughts on “PORTFOLIO-8”

  1. Beauty and ugliness, one cannot exist without the other.

    This is deep philosophically to appreciate. Naturally, also we as humans are attracted to beautiful things. So how will the ugly be preserved for us to continue appreciating the beautiful?

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