Artist's Spotlight

About Bruce Onobrakpeya

Onobrakpeya, born in the oil-rich Niger Delta, is widely regarded as one of the most creative artists and most defining figures in Nigerian modernism. “The Mask and the Cross,” his first major solo exhibition in the U.S., opens at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art this week [July 2024] and celebrates some of his seminal works. The exhibit had its premiere at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta last year.

Onobrakpeya gained renown in the 1950s as a student at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria City, northern Nigeria. He became a founding member of an influential collective of artists later known as the “Zaria Radicals,” committed to decolonizing visual arts and reasserting Nigerian artistic methods and practices in synergy with Western ones. The collective inspired the guiding mission of his work.

A radical rethinking of the crucifixion
It was an Irish priest at St. Paul’s Catholic Cathedral in Lagos who inspired the works now on display at the Smithsonian.

In 1966, Father Kevin Caroll commissioned Onobrakpeya and other artists to produce new depictions of Christian stories and Catholic iconography. Onobrakpeya produced a series of prints titled the “Stations of the Cross,” a reimagination of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Bruce Onobrakpeya, b. 1932, Nigeria, Station VI: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus (detail), 1969, linoleum block print on rice paper, gift of Mr. George A. Naifeh, collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Bruce Onobrakpeya, b. 1932, Nigeria, Station VI: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus (detail), 1969, linoleum block print on rice paper, gift of Mr. George A. Naifeh, collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta

In Onobrakpeya’s vision, Jesus and the people he encountered as he bore the cross along a tortured journey to Mount Calvary are dressed in traditional clothing like adire — a dyed fabric covered in distinct, abstract patterns, made by Yoruba people in Southwest Nigeria. The Roman guards and executioners are recast as British colonial officers. Jerusalem is replaced by a post-colonial Nigerian city — independence from British rule had come in 1960. Each depiction is replete with symbols and markers of Nigerian life.

The commission presented a compelling depiction of the central event in Christianity within the artist’s own context. And it was also political. In “The Mask and the Cross,” the “mask” refers to indigenous religious symbols and practices opposed by Christian missionaries who arrived in Nigeria, backed by brutal colonial regimes. In Onobrakpeya’s series, features of indigenous heritage come to life and are expressed as a focal part of the Christian story.

“I’m making us understand it in our own way rather than trying to use the idea or the imagination of other people to tell the same story,” Onobrakpeya says. “So that my own people, who have the same experience as myself, can understand it, enjoy it and use it as something to move forward.”

He’s making the point that the African traditional symbols and cultures that were opposed by missionaries are still, to African Christian converts, an important part of their Christian identity.

The Afro-centric works also came during a time, following independence from British rule, when many among the new political elite seemed to venerate British and Western cultural practices over Nigerian ones, he says. “Their references were to London, Paris, Munich, New York.”

Onobrakpeya’s series, on display within the St. Paul’s Church cathedral was the jewel among a wider collection from various artists that emerged from the project. “What I did was a kind of change and people don’t take change lightly” he says.

The works were displayed at St. Paul’s Church for almost 45 years, a source of personal pride, but were not beloved by the congregation. They were not seen as a reinterpretation but a distortion, according to Onobrakpeya, and were eventually taken down.

“I felt bad about it, but I let the artwork live their own life. The most important thing is that it gave us a sense of pride that we can go back to ourselves,” he says. Their influence also remained intact, inspiring similar works. An international appreciation for the collection has grown with time.

“That what I did has now been seen as something original, that brings out the true spirits of our people and that it’s going to be exhibited again in Washington D.C., gives me a lot of joy and excitement.”

 

(Manny Jefferson - For NPR) A portrait of Bruce Onobrakpeya in his home studio in Lagos. He hopes to travel to Washington, D.C., in Fall 2024 to see his Smithsonian show.
(Manny Jefferson - For NPR) A portrait of Bruce Onobrakpeya in his home studio in Lagos. He hopes to travel to Washington, D.C., in Fall 2024 to see his Smithsonian show.

For more about the artist, please visit www.wusf.org

"Holy Mary Kannon of Hara Castle"

by Eiji Oyamatsu

Holy Mary Kannon of Hara Castle was unveiled in March 2023 and is the largest wooden statue of Our Lady in the world. She stands almost 33 feet high and is located on the foothills of Mount Unzen overlooking the Hara Castle Ruins, which are located near the city of Shimabara, Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu.

Note: The Hara Castle, along with the Oura Cathedral and Hirado Island, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site commemorating the Hidden Christians in the Nagasaki Region.

Holy Mary Kannon was sculpted to console the 37,000 victims who died there during the Shimabara Rebellion. Christian men and women, young and old, who were led by the boy-saint Amakusa Shiro to rebel against their oppresive government, were in turn murdered.

Scupture artist, Eiji Oyamatsu, was inspired by Saint Pope John Paul II’s visit to Japan in 1981. Oyamatsu made a smaller prototype statue, and sent it to the Pope with his plans for a larger one. Saint Pope John Paul II blessed his work efforts. Forty (40) years later the beautiful sculpture was completed and now is a place of pilgrimage and veneration.

Mary Kannon of Hara Castle by Eiji Oyamatsu - Obtained from https://subsequence.tv/topics_stories/artisan/2749/
Mary Kannon of Hara Castle by Eiji Oyamatsu - Obtained from https://subsequence.tv/topics_stories/artisan/2749/

For more about the project , please visit the related article on Aleteia.

"The Acts of Christ" by Hu Chen

This scroll is 40 centimeters wide and 21 meters long (15 inches wide X 22 yards long). It is based on the Gospel of Luke in the Bible. It begins with the angel’s announcement to Mary and ends with Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. It includes more than 30 classic storylines that constitute the life of Jesus Christ.

"The Acts of Christ" by Hu Chen in perspective.
"The Acts of Christ" by Hu Chen in perspective.
"The Acts of Christ" by Hu Chen in perspective continued ...
"The Acts of Christ" by Hu Chen in perspective continued ...

The most intuitive difference between Chinese landscape painting and Western landscape painting is that Chinese landscape painting is never a reproduction of the real landscape. Even the most meticulous landscape painting is far from reality. Chinese painters are not satisfied with just describing the scenery when painting landscapes, but use the scenery to express the painter’s own thoughts and emotions. They lift their souls out of the secular world and place them in the landscape, but the “Garden of Eden” presented in the picture can never be found in reality. Therefore, we usually don’t simply call landscape painting a “landscape painting,” because the landscape itself has its own life and thickness, and there will be more continuity and possibilities through many landscapes.

The artist Hu Chen lives in an environment influenced by traditional Chinese culture but also deeply influenced by Western religious beliefs, so his thinking is dominated by these two cultures. Western oil paintings are good at describing stories, organizing characters in a storyline and bringing the audience into the inner world of the characters in the painting, while Chinese paintings excel in artistic conception, which comes directly from the depths of the painter’s soul. Chinese landscape painting itself does not have a narrative function, but the traditional Chinese landscape scroll has excellent narrative conditions, and this long-length continuous expression is precisely what oil painting cannot achieve. So this 21-meter-long landscape scroll “The Acts of Christ” began to be conceived and created under such a background.

Chen says ” I should thank the 2020 epidemic for confining me to my home, giving me time to complete what I wanted to do for many years but did not have enough time and energy to do.” It took nearly four months to finally draw the more than 20-meter-long Acts of Christ into its current appearance. The scroll is 40 centimeters wide and 21 meters long. It is based on the Gospel of Luke in the Bible. It begins with the angel’s announcement to Mary and ends with Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. It includes more than 30 classic storylines that constitute the life of Jesus Christ.

Source – Hu Chen’s Website

About Dony MacManus

Born in Dublin in 1971, Dony Mac Manus graduated with a Bachelor of Design (1995) and a Higher Diploma in Art and Design Teaching (1998) at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland. The work from his degree show was selected by the National Museum of Ireland for permanent display to launch the contemporary silver collection.

For more about the artist who created the sculpture shown in this video, please visit donymacmanus.com.

About Mattie Karr

“My name is Mattie, and I’m blessed to be able to paint sacred art and live wedding paintings. It’s the perfect intersection of my two passions, painting and evangelization.

From a young age, I always wanted to go on an epic adventure (to Narnia, preferably). In my college years, I thought this epic adventure would take me to Hollywood working in the animation and film industry. So I got dual degrees in Illustration and Film at KU.

But adventures (especially with God) are never straightforward. I spent a few years in the corporate world after college, doing business development and sales when I finally heard it.”

For more about the artist, please visit mattiekarr.com.

About Tatiana Nikolova-Houston

“Being raised and nourished in the Orthodox Church, iconography and manuscript illuminations have influenced my artistic path and provided me the spiritual strength to survive the challenges of life. I was born in Bulgaria, and my father, a self-taught artist and theatre director, inspired my love of the arts. I received the M.S. in Landscape Architecture in Bulgaria, where I designed parks and spaces for recreation and meditation. The collapse of the communist regime in 1990 enabled me to come to America, where I married and received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Religious Studies and Library and Information Science.

The hand of God has always guided me in the unexpected turns of my life path. The pinnacle of my academic career was the study and preservation of the South Slavic (Bulgarian) medieval manuscripts at the Historical and Archival Church Institute in Sofia, which led to my Ph. D. dissertation revealing “the secret history” of the Balkans during the Ottoman rule (1393-1878), as evidenced by manuscript marginal writings.

“Before the Ottoman invasion in 1393, Bulgarian manuscripts were more artistic than their Western counterparts. But the Ottomans prohibited schools and writing materials among Christians, so Slavic manuscripts after 1393 pale in comparison to Western manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. All, however, have value. De Hamel warned us about the dangers of manuscript elitism: ‘[We] cannot explore a mountain range by looking only at the peaks.’

“Value rests beyond aesthetics if we view from God’s perspective. Value rests on a holistic comprehension of texts, images, and historical marginalia, the notes written in the margins. Elaborate or simple, manuscripts tell us stories of human suffering. Michael Camile wrote: ‘every book is a relic of bodily pain, desire, and death.’

Tatiana and manuscript- provided by Tatiana Nikolova - Houston
Tatiana and manuscript- provided by Tatiana Nikolova - Houston
Rilski 31 page 9a - provided by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Rilski 31 page 9a - provided by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Rilski 31 initial - provided by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Rilski 31 initial - provided by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Figure 3 NL433 - provided by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston
Figure 3 NL433 - provided by Tatiana Nikolova-Houston

The marginalia became my doctoral dissertation topic. They reflected social marginalization and revealed a secret history of the Balkans during Ottoman rule.

This one says, ‘Oh! Oh! Oh! Pity on me…When I wrote this, hiding in the corner of the closet, they came to gather janissaries. But my children are not of the age for janissaries…’

Scribes faced so many challenges. They fought for paper, ink, and pigments — forget about gold or gemstones! They wrote: “I froze while I was writing.” “I am writing at night, without candlelight. forgive me.” Yet, they struggled on, focussing on the Word, rather than on illustrations. That is why Ottoman-era Slavic manuscripts might appear rough, naive, and less illuminated than Western manuscripts.

“Slavic manuscripts display an eclectic spectrum of cultural influences, Celtic, Persian, Islamic, and native woodcarvings. The floral style of illumination, featuring flowers and trees, represents the Tree of Life. It appears in the woodcarvings of the Bulgarian church iconostasis. ‘

“God blessed me to discover the manuscripts, to preserve and recreate their illuminations that inspire others to come closer to God. The poor manuscript orphans are, in fact, giants of human dignity, representing the endurance of marginalized Christians during truly oppressive times. I vow to continue the legacy of the scribes – to create new vessels for the everlasting Word of God (Matt. 9:17).”

“Since 2008, I have dedicated my life to re-creating and re-interpreting Byzantine and South Slavic iconography and manuscript illuminations as a ministry and mission to Western audiences. Sacred Illuminations grew out of my fascination with Slavic manuscripts, unique in their eclectic decorations inspired by Byzantine arts, Persian carpets, Bulgarian folk arts, and even Celtic designs. The illuminations reflect the joy of spirituality and provide a glimpse of the Heavenly reality, of the radiance of the Holy Spirit within everything in God’s Creation and the spiritual symbolism of Holy Scripture

For more about the artist, please visit sacredillumination.com.

In the 2024 Catholic Media Association Book Awards,  the Rosary Book placed in the following categories:
Third Place, Inclusion in the Church, B501
Honorable Mention, Prayer Books, B105
Honorable Mention, Design and Production, B1201 
 
For more information on the Catholic Media Association Book Awards, please visit: