Osaru Obaseki
About the art
This painting, titled "Where I Sit," is one in a series of portraits of contemporary women that pays homage to modern-day social and environmental realities. These portraits, depicting women as plants with flowering heads, speak to the intersection of nature, culture and identity.
The artwork shows a woman sitting in an archway with an impression of the old palace of the Benin Kingdom with her hands placed on a table embellished with motifs found on one of the artefacts stored away in the museum in the west. Beside her are pillars made of Benin red earth and an ancestral Benin altar in an ode to Benin's traditional beliefs.
This surrealist painting juxtaposes the artist's vision of what was, what could have been, and what can still be.
About the artist
Osaru Obaseki (b 1993) is a Nigerian multidisciplinary visual artist. She has intricately woven herself into the contemporary art tapestry, embarking on her professional artistic journey in 2017.
Obaseki employs a variety of mediums that synergize the ancient and the modern: from fluid painting to bronze sculpture and acrylic-infused sands, such as black sand harvested from Igun Street, white sand from the seabed, and the Benin red earth.
As a descendant of a historic family in the Benin Kingdom, Obaseki's work springs from her rich cultural heritage and experiences. Her artistic endeavours delve into the realms of materiality, history, cultural identity, societal dynamics and the intricacies of colonial and post-colonial narratives.
She is a distinguished alumna of the ITP-International Training Programme with the British Museum, UK; Edo Global Art Foundation, Benin, Nigeria; and Rele Arts Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria. Osaru Obaseki is also an esteemed member of the British Art Network. Her creative footprint has graced the galleries of renowned institutions such as Rele Gallery, Saboart Advisory, Coningsby Gallery, Eclectica Contemporary and AKKA project, among others. Noteworthy among her achievements, the year 2019 witnessed her active participation in the Re-entanglement exhibition, a collaborative effort with the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, London, UK, alongside Nosona Studios, Benin City, Nigeria.
Her passion extends to nurturing the artistic community; Osaru was an integral part of the Back to Base workshop, a collaborative initiative between the Goethe Institute and Rele Arts Foundation, situated in Lagos, Nigeria. Her indelible mark on the art world has garnered attention from prestigious media outlets and documentaries, including but not limited to the New York Times, BBC, Document Women, DW Documentary and French/German TV ARTE.
Osaru is actively engaged with ICCROM's flagship programme, Youth.Heritage.Africa.