Night Time in Ebira culture

In Professor Picton's article 'Cloth and the Corpse in Ebira', he records similar attributes that l presented in my film 'Night'based on my research in Owerri, S.E Nigeria recently - see website www.kate-parsons.co.uk

"black, a term that includes the color of indigo dye, is a color with varied associations: the prestige of owning an indigo-dyed gown; the disgusting sight of soot on the face of the smith in this smithy; the dangers of the night as a time of metaphysical activity, including masquerade and witchcraft. "Night" was indeed sometimes used as a euphemism for witchcraft, and sometimes as a metaphor of death; and night is black'.

The other extract from this article reminded me of the function of the Giriama Commemorative Grave Posts l investigated in East Africa but here it is the cloth that acts as the link between the two worlds of the living and the dead, although in both cases the ancestors were very much 'alive'.

"The word eku clearly and literally determined the identitiy of masquerade with the other world. Yet it was the use of itokueta that determined the identity between what had once been a person living in this world and the manifestation of that other domain of existence in masked performance. Dressing in itokueta was the manner in which one entered eku and revisited this world as eku. It was this particular form of textile, whether directly as artifact or indirectly as an idea about an artifact subsisting within an innovative tradition of practice, that manifested and enacted the continuity between living and dead, between ehe and eku."

*Published in Textile Vol 7, Issue 3 pp.296-313

Films Finished!

I have now finished the films l wanted to edit for the show in Lagos in March.

The first series of films consist of three looped pieces entitled 'UN-Reality' which plays with ideas of the unexpected and unfamiliar to introduce the viewer to unusual customs such as the little girl lying down on the floor which is a very common way of relaxing in Nigeria. To me she looks as if she is dreaming which takes reality into unreality and then perhaps into the realms of fantasy.
The next loop is of a glasses case swinging around a glass table which again is uncanny and which my hosts found very disturbing and began to think l had powers l had not got!!! - it was of course the ceiling fan but only when it was turned up full blast!!!

The third loop was taken at night in the big house in Owerri which was a bit creepy at night l must admit. This is of an open window taken at night with all the strange noises of the night coming into the space - again being black and white with elements of shadows this time, which reminded me of the Film Noire genre and the horror films we are used to seeing picking up on our own symbolism.

The other two films entitled 'Day' and the other 'Night' were taken in one of the big rooms in the house in Owerri, one at night and one during the day which l called the ancestor rooms in my mind, as they had these huge chairs which made a real presence (and yet absence) within the room and these were all placed in a circle. The daytime film gives an air of calm and recollection, whilst the night-time version brings in all the essence of ritual associated with the Mbari ritual of sacrifice but also an element of contemporary fears such as the police blocks l experienced. Night and Day were very important in the Mbari practices. Within our own culture Epstein uses this theme in his underground sculptures and Michangelo with his Dawn and Dusk, although different in concept. Again the binary oppositions are evident in this work of mine as they have been in my art work to date.

Preview Africa Week

Attended the Africa Week celebrations at Spike and homed in on a man that l recognised as a Chief from Igboland - what a coincidence! He was wearing the maroon coloured felt hat with the little sprig sticking up on top that l have seen Innocent Nwoga wearing, so l was fascinated to find out more. He is Professor Kenneth Iwugo and he is the director of the postgraduate CPD programme in Water and Environment Management based at Bristol University - as we were talking l found myself moving backwards half way around the room!!! I think personal space must be a UK thing!!! He was very interesting and we agreed to meet again at some point at a peace meeting which is part of the UNESCO initiative. I had been asked by Dr Celestine Chibundu whether l could find someone to help him provide a bore hole for the community around him in Owerri....so maybe this meeting could be helpful.

Innocent Nwoga from Owerri

Sunday 6th.September l met up with Innocent who was paying a flying visit to London and then going on to the USA to meet up with his family. We spent the day by having breakfast at the Electric Brassiere in Notting Hill Gate and then moving on to the National Portrait Gallery as he said he wanted to see some more traditional art. We saw the BP Portrait award winners and a lot of the other entries - a lot of photorealism! My favourite was a back view of someone's granny in her underwear which to me had a resonnance of Rembrandt in this analysis of aging - a gem! We then went upstairs to the Tutor rooms which again l rather like as there is something very real, and yet not real, about these portraits in terms of time and actuality.

Then we met up with my daughter who took us to a very old established pub which is used by opera goers before and after they go to a performance, Sarastro restaurant, 126 Drury Lane, Theatreland, London WC2B 5SU. To be thoroughly recommended as it has such character and is in the heart of the old London city.

All together a wonderful day and re-establishing links with Owerri.

Possible mini project

Snowhill Manor, Gloucestershire - National Trust

I went to visit this place on Sunday as it promised to be fine weather and l wanted to see this collection of artefacts gathered together by Mr Wade who lived their c.1900s. He was a bit of an eccentric and all his collection of objects, which came from all over the world, were housed in the house whilst he spent most of his time living in the priest's house opposite! Above his bed he hung a stuffed bat which the NT staff there fondly call Ruby! It is alleged that writers, actors and artists met there for fancy dress parties in the Great Hall or Dragon room (because of the big fireplace). All the wealth came from a sugar plantation in the West Indies, St Kitts, which only his wife visited on a regular basis to manage the estate.

It a bit like visiting someones attic, the objects although quite interesting seemed rather a "hotch potch" as l overheard someone saying, and the only African mask which was a bronze tourist replica of a Yoruba leopard motif, was in amongst delicate jewelry of mixed origin.

However as l was wondering around the garden l noticed a little house with a set of stairs leading up to it reminiscent of Charles Simmonds work, which held my attention and reinforced my continuing interest in architecture, walls and floors. This l thought might have potential for something.

A Matter of Interpretation

Will need to photograph the rocks again when we get some sunshine this summer!

It is important to me to use natural light in all my work to bring out the form and depth, but it can often add a natural sense of drama and contrast too which l like. It reminds me of the light in the Kenyan landscape which was often theatrical, especially when there was rain coming over the plains.

The previous images and text, as well as showing the process of casting the rocks, explain my intentions and ideas. I need to make the plinths for the work next, which l envisage being white MDF bases with a perspex box dropped over the top of them, flush with the base below.

East African Rock moulds

I have been thinking about the natural environment in Africa, in Kenya to be precise, and how it compared with my first experiences of Abuja, and Lagos and even the more rural areas of Owerri and surrounding area. I still feel that the beauty of the Kenyan landscape surpasses so much l have seen in Nigeria so far.

With this in mind, l decided to make casts of the Kenyan rocks l brought back. I selected these for their originality, colour, texture, shape and most of all the meaning and memory these rocks embody for me. I collected these from the outreaches of different parts of Kenya when l went out walking with the Mountain Club of Kenya. This was a time l very much treasure as it was a great way to see and experience the culture and the landscape first hand, and it was affordable to do. Rocks themselves symbolise an accumulation and consolidation of time and history, which also appeals to me.

My thoughts about Nigeria was that this natural beauty was not valued as much there and the scramble for material wealth and status was all too important, and yet in spite of Nigeria's indigenous wealth with oil and mineral reserves, including gold, people seemed to be impoverished on both levels. Corruption was rife and has lead to a rather volatile society, so it seemed from the outside.

This lead to the idea of casting these rocks making replicas, or fakes, which were then gold leafed showing the contrast between the natural and man-made, but also questioning the value of each type of rock, the gold fake and the authentic natural rocks, the rich and poor.

I want to present them together next to each other in gallery cases, thus giving them status and a presence, in order for the audience to question in their own minds the value and worth of things in their own lives.