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09.08.2021 Opinion OPINION: Art and the Power to Create Change

Published 9th Aug, 2021

By Chudy Ogobegwu

In January 2017, I took my camera to the CMS in Marina, Lagos, and got in a boat. I had convinced a fisherman to model for a photograph I had dreamt up. I dressed him in a suit and got him to stand in his canoe, set against the skyline of the Marina business district.

After the photoshoot and back on land, I showed him the pictures on the camera. When he looked at the photo above, he looked at me and said “Me sef, I fit be office man nah”. At that moment, the possibility of a different life was probably more real to him than it ever was. What he did with that moment, I might never know, but that picture gave him a different pair of eyes to view his world and possibly change the trajectory of his life.

I find that to be one of the most amazing things about art and something I think we don’t talk about enough. Its ability to alter our mental states as we interact with it. Art can affect the way we think, feel and, consequently, act. This amazing quality of art is responsible for its role in shaping culture and energising revolutions.

Travelling through history, we discover that art has played a very important role in the way our traditional and cultural practices are shaped and have evolved. The truth is we can’t attempt to separate art and culture. As far back as the stone age, art, in the form of rock carvings, cave paintings, and pictographs served as the predominant means of communicating and preserving cultural practices and beliefs.

The role that art plays in human society has evolved and gained prominence over time. Art has fuelled various movements such as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the Sudanese revolution and the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria. The powerful imagery and music produced by socially conscious artists in these regions dominated the subconscious minds of millions and rallied them to action against the various forms of injustice and oppression present in their societies.

I often describe the year 2020 as the year I found purpose; because, beyond the effects of the pandemic, I began working on projects that reached cities I had never been to and changed the perspectives of people I had never met.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I worked on a mental health awareness project tagged The Peace Exhibit, which featured over 100 photographers and writers from different African countries who used images and literature to portray the daily experiences of people struggling with depression and anxiety with the goal of battling against depression.

“Coal” – Osagioduwa Agbonifo
“Untitled” – Kevwe Eru

A few hours after the project launched, I was flooded with messages from people across the continent who could relate personally to the emotions depicted in the exhibition and, as a result, no longer felt alone in their struggles with depression and anxiety. I also received feedback from many people who, prior to interacting with the exhibition, believed depression was a ‘white man’s problem’. Their exposure to the powerful images and literature on display at the exhibition compelled them to learn empathy.

Another social impact project that I worked on was #Imperfect, a compilation of raw, unedited portraits of over 40 men and women. The project challenged the unrealistic standards of beauty in our society and highlighted the difficulties people face in conforming to these standards while passing the message across that we are beautiful in our ‘imperfections’ and that there is absolutely no need to feel pressured to conform to the unrealistic standards of society.

I ran this project for a month on social media and was amazed by how it liberated people to embrace their natural selves – ‘flaws’ and all. I remember getting a message from a participant. She uploaded some of the photos of her I took on her social media. Another photographer downloaded them and took the liberty to ‘fix’ her flaws in Photoshop and sent her the edited photos. She told me how outraged she was because seeing herself in this project helped her realize that she didn’t require ‘fixing’. Her spots and seeming imperfections are a part of her that she now embraces and loves. She is perfect and perfect things don’t need to be ‘fixed in post-production’.

Art is powerful and artists bear the responsibility of wielding that power: an ability to change hearts and minds. The artist as a social commentator may simply make us more aware of the human condition in ways that we’ve never seen before and, by doing so, inspire us to change ourselves. I am committed to using my work as a photographer and the power my art holds to do good and create change in my society and I hope that if you are an artist reading this, you choose to do so, too.

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Published 9th Aug, 2021

By Chudy Ogobegwu

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