OBINNA MAKATA: now in: Cut the Paper, Gallery 23, Amsterdam, until January 20, 2019
Twin, but not identical
Obinna Makata is a Nigerian artist and sculptor. He holds a Sculpture Degree from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and currently works in Lagos as a full time studio artist.
Makata is mostly known for his collage works using African fabric, a style he calls ‘’African Test Style’’. After noticing the scraps a tailor left behind in the trash, Makata started using textile in most of his works on canvas and papers. He calls his collages “broken pieces of African culture” in response to the foreign influence that still threatens the traditional African value system.
A blind leading a blind, 2017
A nation that is always praying
Elders assembly
Untitled, 2015
In fact, Makata uses fabric as a metaphor to explore cultural identity and evolving social values in Nigeria. His collages, which incorporate waste objects, create narratives that are associated with daily-life issues, as well as consumerism and materialism which have eaten deep into the social fabric.
Makata has participated in tens of exhibitions, workshops, seminars, art talks, and auctions over the course of his career. He also organized one solo exhibition in 2012 dubbed “Meta History”.