In “Techno Heads” motorcycle parts protrude as people’s heads and other body parts all to the backdrop of loud and fantastic colors. This is the work of Joseph Obanubi, a Lagos-based visual artist who employs multimedia – an expert blend of photography, typography, and shapes –
to explore themes of identity, fantasy and a mix of reality and delusion, confined within the context of globalization.
His work is currently exhibited at Lagos Photo Festival in Nigeria. The festival runs until November 15, 2019. This year’s theme is “Passports”.
PDN spoke with Obanubi and this is what he had to say about “Techno Heads:”
“The series explores how individuals within the contemporary African society navigate through day-to-day patterns of life, infiltrated with technology, even in its simplest form. The contemporary society strongly revolves around and depends on technology for communication, motion, and navigation, all of which are central aspects of human existence. Figments of this revolution are portrayed within each of the works in this series, as part of a being, swapping naturally occurring forms of the subjects with an infusion of mechanised forms, projecting the idea of a techno-utopia.
The series also dabbles with metaphysics in the African context, exploring how identity, space and time have become intricately linked with even the simplest products of technology. It seeks to merge African metaphysics and (simple) technology to explain alter reality and how they portray techniques and concepts of freedom for Africans in the contemporary society.
My approach is mostly Afro-Futurism or surrealism and my inspiration simply the quest to merge basic technology with everyday living.
My process is simple. I go from making sketches to taking photos and then software processing (2D and 3D software). I consider my work to be a visual bricolage – a (re)construct of different subjects taken from their original context into a new one with their preconceived meanings replaced with a new line of thought.
My goal as an artist is to give insight into the way we see things as humans.”
—Samantha Reinders
“Techno Heads”.
Joseph Obanubi
The Red Door Gallery, 51B Bishop Oluwole Street, Lagos
Lagos Photo Festival
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