PAST EXHIBITION
CRISTINA DE MIDDEL: THIS IS WHAT HATRED DID | OCTOBER 7 - NOVEMBER 17 2015
Thursday 10.08.2015 | Artist Talk 6 PM
Your RSVP is required: mail@dillongallery.com
*please note that Wednesday's Artist Talk has been moved to Thursday

In the sixties, a 5 year old Nigerian child’s village was attacked by soldiers. His mother had left him at home alone, so he ran away to escape bombing and fire. He saved his life by entering the Bush, a magical territory where no humans are allowed and where all the Yoruba spirits live and fight. Our kid spent 30 years lost in the Bush trying to find his way back home amongst the spirits and the dead. He was married twice, became a king, god, slave, cow, jar, horse, and a goat; ate gold, silver, bronze, snakes, and snails; fought 2 wars and was sentenced to death half a dozen times… all that in just 100 pages. Amos Tutuola wrote "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" in 1964 and had to flee the country to escape violent reactions to a book that would open, during his exile, a new path for contemporary African narrative.

The narrator, a young boy tells his story in a very basic, direct, naive, and repetitive style that only a child could master, yet manages to convey the magical and absurd reality of war and religion in Nigeria. The series "This Is What Hatred Did" (derived from the mysterious last sentence of the book) aims to provide an illustrated contemporary version of the book, adapting the characters, and ambiance to the current situation of the country. The "Bush" is now the Lagosian neighborhood of Makoko, a floating slum with its own rules, commanded by Kings and community leaders, often the subject of popular media coverage. A place where logic does not prevail and forbidden for those who do not belong. With the conviction that contemporary issues should be described in a way that includes the agent’s traditions, perspectives, fears, and hopes, this series documents the enhanced reality of one of the most iconic places in Nigeria.

- Cristina De Middel

View Cristina de Middel's artist page here.