Being Free: A celebration of diverse women bodies with art
While the world cannot celebrate women enough because of their countless contribution to humanity, Deborah Segun, a rising visual artist, is furthering the cause of women with her works.
The multidisciplinary artist is hosting art lovers and the general public in an enthralling show tagged ‘ Being Free’, an exhibition of paintings and pastel drawings.
The exhibition, which holds from October 3-31, 2020 at Temple Muse, Victoria Island, Lagos, features works that celebrate the diverse bodies of women through shape and color, portraiture and narrative, creating an important counter-point to society’s patriarchal notions of an “ideal woman”.
The intrigue of her style is her ability to combine abstraction, figuration, and recompose shapes to create voluptuous figures in varied, graceful poses, which celebrate the subject and imbue the viewer with a deep sense of admiration.
A reason to see the exhibition is that in her paintings, the subjects maintain steady and relaxed gaze, which represents a shift in focus from typical male-centered standards of beauty.
Again, her work is a step towards claiming a new sense of freedom through art.
“My works provide a safe space in which plus size women are free to embrace themselves and their vulnerabilities. It shines a positive light on the unveiling of fat bodies by appropriating postures that are often used to highlight the beauty in slimmer bodies, whilst providing a semblance of inclusivity and making room for diversity in a society that often denies it”, she explains.
However, her initial painting process requires a lot of patience because she has to do two layers of painting. The first layer is to lock in all the colors while the second layer is to create a more uniform coat. Also, she loves her lines to be precise and clean as she feels like it is a reflection of how clear she wants the message to come across.
Explaining her technique, she says her process usually requires her to do a lot of research, look into a lot of historical and modern references, as well as, photographic references. “Sometimes, it is impulsive, especially when it comes to drawings. Usually, my painting process is a lot more intensive, so I make a lot of sketches. I like to go into in-depth research; looking at how people interact, looking at body movement, and then I transfer my ideas onto the canvas”, she says further.
“Segun’s titles tell half the story of her bold and colorful cubist influenced works, exploring fragility versus freedom, vulnerability versus selfacceptance, and self-love alongside bold defiance. Her female gaze, which she uses to create a safe artistic space for enfolding, is both inward and outward. She explores the meaning of being and acceptance through works, which speak to the internal conversations many of us experience and which sound a familiar bell on how we perceive a ‘body-perfect world’”, Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, artistic director, SMO Contemporary Art and curator of the exhibition, says.
Charlotte Langhorst, an art historian, describes Segun’s works saying, ”Through her employment of energetic color palettes and a fearless attitude towards style and expression the oeuvre of Segun represents an expansive force, which gives life to the things around us. We feel the physique of her women before we can name any kind of anatomy, or cultural gaze”.
Supported by Champagne Billecart Salmon, Being Free runs until October 31, 2020 at Temple Muse.