"BECOMING" By Maduka Onyebuchi
4th To 30th November, 2024
Private View
Thursday 14th Nov, 6.00pm to 9.00pm
About the Exhibition
As a young boy growing up in his hometown in Nigeria, Maduka experienced vibrant, colourful days filled with joy and overwhelming happiness. Mornings were brightened by the soft light of the yellow sun, casting shadows that seemed to stretch and grow with him as he walked to school. Childhood, for him, was a time of ease and carefree moments.
Now, as an adult, reflecting on those days and accepting them as fantasies, far removed from the complex reality of adulthood. As the challenges of life set in, he acknowledges that life is filled with contradictions, riddles, and puzzles, ones that only the brave can overcome. It is during this transition that individuals find their voice and begin to embrace the challenges life presents and taking steps to forge their own path.
In this latest body of work, Maduka explores his personal journey, reflecting on the pivotal experiences that have shaped him over time and throughout his life. In each piece, he assigns a crown or halo to his subjects, elevating them as Queens and Kings, symbolising his belief that everyone possesses an inherent uniqueness and strength.
Through these works, he emphasises that each individual has the power to shape their destiny, while confronting life’s challenges and striving to carve out their own future.
About The Artist
Maduka Emmanuel Onyebuchi, (b. 1997, in Imo State, Nigeria) is a visual artist living and working in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. His passion as a ballpoint pen artist comes from a lifelong obsession with creativity. From a tender age, Maduka has always tried to manipulate objects and materials in order to make something creative and artistic, then he finally chose the ballpoint pen as his medium of art which he claims to be another means of writing stories.
As a self-thought artist, he has been drawing since he was nine, Maduka released his first hyperrealism masterpiece in 2020 titled “Behind The Veil” which illustrates the political issues of human rights and freedom for women, the first series of “Behind The Veil” was sold to a collector in New York.