owoko
Exhibition Dates: April 30th, 2022 - May 28th, 2022Location: Comfort Station, 2579 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647
Exhibition Link -> https://comfortstationlogansquare.org/may-2022-ebereagwuncha
owoko is an interactive installation honoring Igbo women through an ongoing ritual centered around the element of water. ebere uses the historic Comfort Station site as grounds for owoko, the first iteration of the series Creating Care-filled Igbo Architecture(s)*, through the use of ceramics, natural fiber, and wood. The exhibition features the process of ebere crafting the architecture(s) that are on display. A video piece shown is an assemblage of various archives, historical sites, ebere’s hands, and interviews. The viewer can see beyond the architecture(s) that may appear as final works in the space, and interpret each item as an ‘object of process’, with some items evolving past their current state in the show.
This installation embodies the historic formation of the Circular Stepped Pyramids in Nsude, Northern Igboland (image below); the ceramic-woven vessels exhibited replicate the linear uli formation parallel to the primary window within the space. These bodies sit in sunken soil to replicate the traditional owoko, a water pot installation, that was designed and produced by Igbo women - prior to Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960. The vessel centered amongst the five vessels is a soundscape and water reservoir. It is activated through an ongoing ritual practiced alongside ebere’s family who journeyed to a nearby stream to ‘fetch the water’ for the vessel. The viewer is encouraged to continue filling the center vessel with a water offering as they first enter the space. owoko is a collective meditation and is activated to remind us of our invisible access to clean water.
Exhibition Openng Reception
Saturday - April 30th, 2022 from 4 - 7 PM
Photography: TJ Walker
reviews:
Ruckus Journal, owoko review by Sea M. Miller ->
“Ultimately, in owoko, the art object(s) facilitate a ritual performance that is informed by the traditions of a not-so-forgotten ancestral homeland. For agwuncha, the clay body is a conduit for connection with the ancestors and others who choose to acknowledge the labor practices that sustain and restore our understanding of community (& communion)”
New City Magazine, An Ode to Owoko: A Review of ebere agwuncha at Comfort Station by Hadia Shaikh ->
“The exhibition includes a video that compiles interviews, historical sites and archives. It dives into a contemplation of divergent anthropological perspective on women practicing ceramics. It includes the processes of Igbo women performing a large firing of work together.“
additional resources & references:
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Traditional Water Pot Installations and Functions in Parts of Igboland, Southeast Nigeria ->
- Repositioning Pottery Making In Igboland, Manchester Museum (video no longer available on youtube)
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Roy, Christopher. “African Pottery Forming and Firing.” YouTube Video ->
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Roy, Christopher. “Nigerian Pottery: Igbo, Yoruba, Gwari, Bini.” YouTube Video ->
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Hands In Clay - “Earthenware is excellent for storing drinking water in a hot climate, because the porosity of they clay body allows the water to cool by evaporation.” pg 73
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Vincentelli, Moira. Women and ceramics: gendered vessels. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.
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Frank, Barbara E. “Field Research and Making Objects Speak.” African Arts 40 / 1 (2007): 13-17.
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Barley, Nigel. “Traditional Rural Potting in West Africa,” in Pottery in the Making: Ceramic traditions, eds. Ian Freestone and David Gaimster. Washington DC: Smithsonian, 1997
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Benjo N. Igwilo, "Contemporary Nigerian Art − the future Participations of Ceramic Art in Nigeria" in Symposium on Contemporary Nigerian Art, Vol. 1, pp. 350-370; Organised by the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka; 21st to 24th March, 1976 at the Continuing Education Centre, Nsukka (1976), p. 351.
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Vincent Ali, Continuity and Change in Traditional Pottery in Igboland, Nigeria: Pottery Forms and Decorations, Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing (2012).