Fluid figures, plants, swirling symbols and geometric patterns are burnt, chiselled and painted on to panels of wood to create vast, intricate compositions that hang alongside shimmering chainmail tapestries of hammered metal cans. This impressive new body of work by the Nigerian artist Gerald Chukwuma has been almost four years in the making, with each piece gradually evolving through a collaborative and deeply meditative process. For Chukwuma, this approach signals an important turning point in his practice in which he explores instinctive mark marking and communal effort as a way of accessing the spiritual realm or ‘a place where everything becomes a possibility.’

Drawing on the traditions of Igbo culture and specifically the concept of igwebuike which encourages communal harmony as a form of resilience and prosperity, Chukwuma’s artistic practice has always embraced collective ways of working. He believes that everyone is born an artist and sees himself in the role of a director who guides the work in the studio by uniting different ways of thinking. This approach not only subverts the traditionally Western perspective of the singular, genius artist but also enables Chukwuma to create a more nurturing, sustainable and productive working structure which he likens to ‘a family’. He has been working with the same group of people for almost ten years; they come together every day not just to create, but to eat and share knowledge. These complex and varied interactions are visible in the work through different techniques of mark making, but it is also a harmony that can be felt rather than seen. As Chukwuma notes, ‘There is something spectacular about communal effort in an art piece. What people experience when they encounter the work is the coming together of ideas and the heartbeats of many people – no matter how good you are as an artist, that is something you can never create alone.’