Images of power in contemporary Nigerian paintings

Abstract

Contemporary Nigerian paintings are replete with images and notions of power and power relations among the ethnically pluralistic peoples of Nigeria. This paper presents a select number of paintings that best manifest the idea of how power is depicted and how power influences human thinking and aspiration from a Nigerian perspective. To best epitomise this concept, the paintings of Kolade Oshinowo, Chike Obeagu, Dhlimi Munza, Blaise Gundu Gbaden and Emmanuel Ikemefula Irokanulo have been scrutinised. It has been discovered that power is illustrated in different forms. The discourse that follows these revelations centres on the manner in which these differing notions influence the social life of the people without distorting the intrinsic aesthetic values inherent in the paintings.