Eva Obodo Nigeria, b. 1963

Overview

Eva Obodo focuses on fibre and charcoal as conceptual mediums, creating relief PaINTINGS and free standing SCULPTURES THAT ARE CREATED FROM PROCCESSES OF wrapping, tying and bundling.

Incorporating discarded materials such as charcoal and jute fibre, Obodo creates visual narratives that evoke the complex socio-political and economic structures that frame contemporary culture.

Obodo’s charcoal works reference issues of natural resources and development in Nigeria, while his fibre works utilise nylon threads that are tied, rolled and wrapped to create colorful visual metaphors. Together, they speak to the connections between individuals and their social relations woven against economic and political backgrounds, connected by community, nation and the global economy through the trade of goods and ideas.

Eva Obodo is a professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he teaches sculpture and art education.

Biography

"My work talks about a kind of global community, where you have individuals, you have families. Then you have nations, before you begin to talk of the global community. Each piece of charcoal is tied independent of the other. And as they are independent, they also collectively form a whole."

- Eva Obodo

Eva Obodo holds an MFA and a PhD from the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and presently teaches sculpture and art education at the same university. He was formerly a lecturer at Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, where he taught art history, sculpture and drawing for several years before joining the University of Nigeria.

Eva Obodo held two solo exhibitions with Arthouse-The Space in Lagos, including Ngwugwu (Packages) in 2019 and Line.by.Line in 2015. Obodo has participated in several international group exhibitions in addition to his solo shows, including the Osaka Trienniale (Japan) and DAK’ART (Senegal). In 2013, Obodo was the recipient of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship Award.

Works