4.11.2024 Lecture
Chimira Natanna Obiefule – Process and Practice: Art as a Freedom-Choreography
In ancient Igbo land, art is a very natural part of society; it embodies a science that encourages sustainability and an emotional relationship to the land. A great example of this is the Mbari shrine, which serves as a ritual of process. Members of a village are chosen as spirit workers (artists), who adorn a building from head to toe. The architecture is sacred, defined by its geometry, to its purpose and content. After a year of dedicated work, the shrine is presented to the village, filled with various forms of art, from painting to sculpture, reflecting the society’s current state. Its reveal is celebrated through dance and offerings. The ritual is finalised when the spirit workers flee from the shrine, moving on to their next creation, allowing the shrine to naturally decay back into the earth. The shrine is an offering to the land, a communal space that moves beyond spectation. Its decay is a natural process, inviting the forms of nature to inhabit such a sacred space.
In reflecting on and honoring this history, my artistic practice seeks to continually reconfigure the logic of my labor. I try to move away from commodity- and spectacle- based art toward creations that catalyse resistance while also holding space for my intergenerational healing. I ponder upon the following questions: What does my artistic spirit process look and feel like? How am I inviting my ancestors into this process to lead me? When do I feel most fulfilled, confident, and energized? What makes me feel exhausted, confused, and uncertain?
Chimira Natanna Obiefule is a Nigerian artist, researcher and policy maker whose labor of love prioritizes Black queer liberation. They express their vision through the visual arts, performance lectures, and music. In their studies and explorations, Chimira develops languages of refusal and healing, reimagining education, community, femininity through sisterhood, and somatic knowledge as forms of resistance. Their expressions continually chart a path guided by intuition, fostering self-liberation and self-discovery.
Image 1: [An Igbo] spirit worker painting the walls of an mbari nearing completion. Note the double Mami Wata images at left. Photo 1930s. – Herbert Cole, 1988
Image 2: A Wayward Shrine of Becoming, Chimira Natanna Obiefule, Mixed media, 2023