With Menu Weh, Hodonu probes into identity

WHO are you? Do you really know who you are? How much of your people’s values, traditions and culture do you know? These are some of the questions that painter and sculptor, Nathaniel Hodonu, will be providing answers to Menu Weh, his third solo exhibition opening at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos on November 11.

Featuring over 50 paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the show runs till November 24 and affords the Badagry, Lagos State-born artist the opportunity to share his new body of works made from found materials with the public.

Since 2006, Hodonu has been working with coconut shells, plastic bottle caps and wood to make exquisite and durable artworks. The show therefore gives art critics and patrons an opportunity to critically appraise the works and see if the artist has succeeded in his quest.

Aside this however, the issue of identity is also important to the artist, hence the decision to title the show Menu Weh? and expose the beautiful cultural values of his Ogu people.

“It is a phrase that can be used to expatiate on one’s identity: who are you, who is that, who is there. It is a question that requires an answer in totality about someone, his culture, way of life, background, cultural values and everything that concerns the person,” he offered.

“I used Menu Weh to answer the questions about the Ogu people in Badagry and in general their cultural values, heritage and occupation in Nigeria and Africa at large.

The cultural heritage of my people is unique and beautiful; the Sato drum, Zangbeto masquerades, Ajogan dancers, Gangbesi, Hungan drum, Agbato drummers, Pashasi,  Kaka and Sekunmeh, just to mention a few. Menu Weh? also attempts an  answer to questions like who are we as Nigerians? Why do we cherish imported products over home-made materials? Why do we attach more importance to other people’s cultural values than ours?”

The title piece, a coconut shells assemblage, explains the identity of a Badagry person, an Ogu man, his culture and occupation while the Ibi Ori Danisi series of paintings showcase the basic occupation of the Ogu people; living on water, schools and markets on water.

Leaving the Ogu people and crossing over into the larger Nigeria, Harmony, a piece made from bottle caps portrays co- existence among Nigerians while others like Flower Season and Showers of Blessing do same.

On his choice of coconut shells for more than 10 artworks in the show, Hodonu said: “It is the only tree that I know with all its parts valuable to mankind. I grew up witnessing the profound contributions of coconut palm to the betterment of many lives. It is without doubt the tree of life.”