“Idimarah” by Bruce Onobrakpeya
Bruce Onobrakpeya’s art has often drawn from the myths, structures, and ideas of his youth to express simple truths about life, while also preserving the histories and cultural memory of a people.
In “Idimarah”, Onobrakpeya reflects on both life’s truisms and the social order of the world he grew up in. The work centres on the presence of mosquito larvae in places where water gathers — even in a shrine where village age grades once met. Such shrines were sacred spaces, often restricted to people of a certain age, status, or standing, and sometimes requiring significant payments before one could gain entry.
Yet the humble mosquito, and its larvae, moved freely through this space, untouched by its sanctity, hierarchy, or social importance.
For Onobrakpeya, this becomes a powerful metaphor: however much we create barriers as human beings, those barriers are, on some level, artificial. The most essential things in life remain free.
Like many of Onobrakpeya’s works, “Idimarah” is bold, engaging, and sculptural in feeling — minimalist in form, yet deeply connected to African sculptural traditions, memory, and meaning.