Contemporary Art in Context: Victor Ekpuk

Many artists around the world use symbols in their works, a practice that has existed since the earliest painted prehistoric art. Symbolism can be social, cultural, religious, or even self-referential. Victor Ekpuk, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary Nigerian-American artist, has developed a body of work based on a series of abstract symbols. He uses this personal visual language to explore historical narratives, contemporary Afrofuturism, and humanity’s connection to the spiritual. He specializes in painting, printmaking, installations, murals, and fashion design.

Artistic Influences
Growing up in Nigeria during a succession of coups and military juntas and their resultant degradation of Nigerian life, Ekpuk viewed art as a channel through which he could respond to those conditions. He was raised in southeastern Nigeria, where secret societies practice the ancient communication form of Nsibidi, which is part of the aesthetics of traditional Ibibio culture and was instrumental in inspiring Ekpuk’s art. Another turning point for him was an encounter with artist and poet Obiora Udechukwu (b. 1946), who had embraced Uli, an Igbo women’s practice of abstract symbol painting that includes abstract lines, geometric shapes, and some representative forms.

Nsibidi’s abstract symbols communicate ideas and concepts. Ekpuk’s exploration of Nsibidi inspired the artist to reduce forms to their essence. He has developed a singular, personal visual language which is grounded in the communication art. This language combines personal interpretation with legibility and illegibility as metaphors for contemporary expression, resulting in an interplay between art and writing. When creating his large-scale wall works, he has no preconceived notions about composition until he arrives on-site, where he sometimes sketches on his iPad or iPhone. The rest is stream of consciousness in which he admits that his hand sometimes cannot work as fast his mind.

Selected Works
Like many of his works, Shrine to Knowledge and the brilliantly colored Afternoons with Lorenzo are both commemorative and meditations on memory. Shrine was commissioned in London at Somerset House to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the African diaspora to England. Afternoons with Lorenzo is so-named because Ekpukʼs friend, photographer Lorenzo Wilkins, was in the studio documenting the work as Ekpuk painted it. As with all of Ekpuk’s work, there is no literal translation in his personal language, but rather an invitation for viewers to contemplate what the wall of symbols inspire in themselves. For Ekpuk, human experiences—lived and imagined, inherited or received, personal and collective—are at the core of his practice.

Art History: Symbolism in African Art
African art is rich in a tradition of symbolism that extends back long before the established ideograph canon of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. African artistic symbol languages continue to this day in many forms. Many of these secret “languages” are part of African fiber arts traditions. Examples of these include the Bogolanfini fabric patterns of the Bamana of Mali, the stamped symbols of Asante Adinkra cloth in Ghana, and the mud-painted, stylized animal and human symbols of Senufo Korhogo cloth of the Ivory Coast. Ekpuk maintains this tradition in designing his own line of clothing covered in his hybrid Nsibidi designs.

About the Artist
Victor Ekpuk was born in 1964 in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, the first of five children. Since his earliest memory, he has been an artist, creating realistic drawings at three or four years old. He attributes his artistic talent to his mother, a seamstress who also designed clothing. He received a BFA from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in Ile-Ife, where students were encouraged to tap into African aesthetics for expression. From 1900 to 1998, he drew cartoons and caricatures for Nigeria’s Daily Times paper in Lagos, while painting in his free time. He met his American wife while at the Times and ultimately emigrated to Washington, DC in the early 2000s. His first solo show was in 2006 at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, where he is now a fellow, and for whom he designs trophies for recipients of the museum’s African Art Awards.

ARTIST Q&A
What are some of the biggest influences on your work?
VE: Historically, African artists have had a huge impact on Western modern art. Their works are major inspirations for me. These African artworks continue to inspire contemporary designs and art. One example is Nsibidi. These are abstract symbols that are carved into objects or dyed into textiles.

Do you have specific strategies, rituals, or routines that help you work and/or generate ideas?
VE: To stimulate my creative process, I engage in various rituals. These include listening to music, engaging in contemplative meditation, and maintaining a journal beside my bedside. I use this journal to record and draw my dream experiences. Additionally, I occasionally create random drawings that serve as catalysts for generating new ideas.

Nsibidi has traditionally been used by the Ejagham, Efik, Ibibio, and Igbo peoples. Because it does not correspond to any one spoken language, how do you use it in your art so that it is understandable by all of these groups?
VE: By drawing inspiration from the aesthetic philosophy of Nsibidi, which reduces ideas and forms to their fundamental essence. Through the creation of graphic symbols, these symbols serve as keys to unlock ideas that are subsequently communicated.

I reimagine these concepts to develop my own vocabulary, which transcends literal translations and reading. Instead, I emphasize the experiential nature of my work, inviting viewers to engage with it on a deeper level.

What criteria determines your color palette? It seems dominated by primary colors; why is that?
VE: I think the attempt to seek the primacy of lines that are not encumbered by colors leads my palette to be as minimal as possible.

Do textile patterns influence your work? Nsibidi often decorates textiles, but what non-Nsibidi symbols inspire you?
VE: Indeed, the graphic designs and symbols incorporated into textiles serve as a significant source of inspiration for me. My research involves examining traditional African objects to derive inspiration from their distinctive styles, forms, and content.

What are you working on currently? Can you share any upcoming projects with our readers?
VE: Currently, I am engaged in several public art commissions, including sculptures in Washington, DC and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and a mosaic mural in the Washington, DC area.

A Personal Visual Language