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| Eyes of Faith by Zinno Orara |
For the
memory of his late wife, Adaora, a mother of four children, Orara has not built
a mausoleum like Emperor Jahan; he stepped out onto the canvas three years
after her death with colours of emotion. In a solo art exhibition titled Life's
Journey, which opened at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos last weekend
and which ends today, Orara pours out colours of emotions from the brush
strokes of his heart.
Throughout
the period of the lost battle of Adaora against breast cancer, Orara
nearly
"shut down" his studio for almost seven years. Died in 2014, Adaora,
who left two boys and two girls behind, is being celebrated on the pedestal of
lesson of 'Life' for others to learn one or two things about the beauty and
vanity of earthly sojourn.
Two of
the over 30 paintings on display explicitly represent the heavy heart of the
artist. For example, a lowered gaze in 'Thoughts of You' suggests memory of a
life worth sacrificing everything for. The artist actually did sacrifice so
much during his wife's battle against breast cancer.
"Treating her involved N170,000 worth of
drugs weekly," Orara recalled a few days ahead of the exhibition's
opening.
Irrespective of the pains suffered from losing
Adaora, there exists something enduring, which she seemed to have left in her
husband's heart. This much the artist reveals in the bold facial portrait
titled 'Eyes of Faith' and for which he enthused: "Those eyes are exactly
hers."
Picking the pieces of life from where Adaora
left clearly brought the burden of taking care of four children. With the two
key factors of shade and light in rendition of painting, Orara, in 'The Storms of
Single Parenting,' a 2017 work, shares his experience while caring for four children
without their mother. The painting, a silhouetted figure walking, of an
unidentified lady, radiates the dark and bright sides of Life's Journey. With spotlight from which the figure derives its
strength and yet no visible source, this perhaps represents the artist's means
of spiritual strength in taking care of the children left behind by Adaora.
However, there appeared to be something for
Orara to be joyful about. "Two of our children have graduated after my
wife's death."
The family must have gotten its motivation in
the lesson of being united against odds. And comes 'Strength of Unity,' a
bluish rendition with both aesthetics and critical values. Despite his personal
travails against faith and destiny, Orara had time to observe his environment
and show concern for others. A year after the death of Adaora, he painted
"Should be in School,' a depiction of a girl hawking on the street. She
could have been anyone's daughter or victim of lack of parental care or
poverty, the artist says.
With his
solo art exhibition titled Boundaries And
Bridges, which was shown at Quintessence Gallery, Lagos, in 2010, Orara,
used the event to raise funds in supporting medical bills for Adaora.
Interestingly, the theme of the exhibition focused the recurring Jos,
Plateau State communal crisis, confirming the artist's interest in his
environment.
Orara's
gradual recovery into studio practice was noticed in May this year, when he
made his major group exhibition since the death of his wife. It was the debut
edition of The Content art
exhibition, curated by Lekan Onabanjo at Adam&Eve, Ikeja, Lagos.
-Tajudeen Sowole
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