Irish/Nigerian Cultural Identity Project - Cover & Feature with Totally Dublin April 2023
Thank you @miguelmyriad for believing in my project and helping it come to fruition and to all the wonderful creatives involved. @freeshype @whosaisha @farouk858 @stickyiicky @etheartistdublin
Face painting has been and still is deeply rooted in the identity of both cultures going back through the ages. Whether it be war paint, a sign of status, to create fear, to highlight attractiveness or to create togetherness in celebration, face & body painting is a part of all of us. I wanted to show just how similar our cultures are but at the same time learn more about both cultural histories.
I have created a five-piece fine art mix media project where I wanted to merge the Irish and Nigerian cultural backgrounds of five creatives currently practicing in Ireland. I researched both traditional and modern interpretations of tribal face painting from the Irish Celtic and Nigerian cultures.
I photographed these creatives in a studio and then using photoshop, my tablet and various techniques, I hand painted each creative individually. Using colour to show the symbolism I have encoded throughout the series. White paint has been used to pay homage to the Nigerian heritage of the creatives, woad blue the Celtic heritage.
The explosion of colour behind represents the Nigerian flag green and white. While they also represent the Irish flag, green, white on orange. Merging both cultures at the same time as the five creatives and their families have merged themselves into Irish society for the past 20 years and more.
