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Large-scale paintings combine with bullet casings, shoes and other objects at the 226 Gallery on Main Street for an artist’s response to a crisis continuing to unfold in his home country.
Habeeb Andu’s Theatre of War addresses the ongoing kidnappings and violence carried out in his native Nigeria by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. The crisis came to the world’s attention back in 2014 with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, but even as the violence persisted, the issue faded from the headlines.
“You don’t know how your day is going to be because if you are stepping out, you don’t know your fate,” says Andu of the situation. “Maybe you’ll be kidnapped, or you’ll be killed. Nobody knows.”
Addressing ongoing systemic issues is Andu’s métier. Although Theatre of War is his debut exhibit in Winnipeg, Andu has taken on issues related to police brutality to housing security. “I cannot be painting something beautiful and be selling out for people,” he says. “I need to tell the story – need to tell what people are going through, telling that I need to be in their shoes to let people know what is going on. I cannot just see it and look away from it since it doesn’t happen to me.”
Theatre of War portrays scenes of shot-up classrooms and the aftermath of the struggles that take place there. The horrors of that juxtaposition are something that Andu places front and centre in the exhibit. “Where you are in a war with your education, you are fighting for your life, for your kids,” he says. “The students should be there learning, but it’s something different that you see in the classroom.”
Through his work, Andu wants more people to recognize the ongoing nature not only of the violence, but the lack of response as well from local law enforcement on the ground in Nigeria and the global community. “The country’s security is just, let me say, there’s not much serious security in the country where kidnapping can just go on and nothing is going to be done about it,” he says. “It’s not maybe that I’m painting bad about my country, but I just want some serious things to be done quickly as needed.”
Theatre of War is on display at the 226 Gallery until August 30. Gallery hours and more information can be found on the gallery’s Instagram page.