Johnson Uwadinma
Ex-Agitator, 2015.
About:
Johnson Uwadinma is an artist obsessed with memory, often working with old newspapers that, he feels, feature the same stories over and over again. Uwadinma also draws on the urban landscape of Port Harcourt with its multiplicity of torn posters or broken billboards to address his quiet dismay at the inability of information and written media to assist progress: “We are constantly engaged in repetitious conflict, violence, war, political ignorance, corruption and deceit. We repeat history, we never learn. Knowledge fails us, history and truth gets erased.” Uwadinma is known for his paintings but for Boys’ Quarters he has also created a stunning sculpture from newspaper reflecting not only the problem of collective memory but also his own personal history.(text Zina Saro-Wiwa, 2015)
The days I feel blue, 2015.
When Memory Falls, Call Upon Truth, 2014.
The same old news, 2014.
Which war, 2014.
Johnson Uwadinmwa was born in Kaduna, Nigeria in 1982. He has a Masters Degree in Painting from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He is a recipient of a number of awards including the First Prize, NNPC/EPNL World Environment Day Art Competition and Chief Jubilee Owei Art Prize for Excellence. He has held two solo exhibitions and has featured in several group exhibitions. He is a member of Society of Nigerian Artists and Mangrove Artists. Art is a channel for him to continually question his existence and fulfillment of same.
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