ABSTRACT THOUGHTS ON PAPER AND CANVAS

 

My name is Juliet Ezenwa Pearce. I am a visual artist living in Nigeria. I will be showing these abstract expressions at the Art Arising Art Festival taking place at the National Museum. Onikan, Lagos, from 8th to 15th August 2025.

These abstract ideas were born out of my desire to make sense of some complex ideas encountered in my reality as an African woman of systemic patriarchy, race, gender inequalities and misogyny. it would have been easy to if I was not so firmly tethered to religion and culture, but even if I wasn’t, I was still defined by the scars of the colonial legacy.

 Thus, the challenge before me was to find a harmonious way to unpack these monoliths without creating chaos. But these ideas were by their nature innately chaotic.

These are raw emotions, painted from my feelings. They came out in defiance of the rules of my academic and professional training. I pushed back the fear of failure to produce them.

At first, I made attempts to simplify some of these ideas. My attempts felt like censorship. It was futile seeking solutions when the questions themselves seemed insurmountable. So, I slowly unpacked. I was unable to articulate many things so I left them as is (this may explain why they may have the look of a juggled-up mess).  Unable to hold them back any longer, I laid down my papers and canvases and they poured out and have done so till date.

 Many times, I tried to silence their voices until they forced their way out as masquerades.  With the arrival of the female masquerades, we were reminded and reintroduced to the same old issues of misogyny, gender inequalities, women’s representation in leadership and power.  Powerful as the female masquerades are, as an expression of the feminine they were still confined.

Some emotions manifested as fleeting thought; others could not wait to leave, speedily rushing through my mind leaving trails of whispers. Yet some arrived slowly like an assemblage; they settled on familiar foundations.

My challenge was to capture them as quickly as possible. At first using acrylics on canvas and paper, I experienced an unease with the results so I embarked on layers of both acrylics, oil pastels and oil paints until exhausted and out of materials I stopped. Yet I still heard the whispers and felt a deep yearning to continue. Even now here displayed, these works still call out for more engagements.

No doubt these ideas will open doors for us to explore the possibilities in what ifs. So as an African woman I dare to ask: What if the answer you seek is female, and God is a black woman? What if we are living in the matrix? What if all you believed in is a lie? What if there is no tomorrow? What if there is heaven and we are right here in it? As with these abstract paintings, these ideas are not for closed minds.

The viewer might recognize this familiarity, as if you have had these conversations before. It is as if the artist created something out of their own conversations, inexplicably, as though the feelings that emerge when one encounters art expresses one’s soul’s rhythm. It is as if it is singing your inner song.

I cannot genuinely say that I understand them all. I acknowledge that the message they contain may not be mine. Their coded language is known only to the receivers. Perhaps what they require is not understanding but acceptance acquired from long and repeated engagements.

I, therefore, invite you, the viewer. to engage with them in silent conversation. If they speak to you, then you are the receiver. Go with them, I sense that they will be speaking for a long time.