This work is not really about showing off patterns it is more about thinking about what is inside us. It is about what stays with us when the things that happen in the world affect us personally. In Echoes in Wax and Skin which was shown at Gallery 1957 in Ghana from February 19 to 25 2023 Goodluck Jane, a media visual artist shows us a woman who is standing very still.
This woman is facing forward her eyes are closed and her hands are pressed together. The way she has her hands pressed together makes you think of prayer.
Maybe she is just concentrating really hard or maybe she is pulling away from everything, you do not know for sure if she is trying to reach out to something outside of herself. Her stillness feels real, she is not pretending.
The skin of the figure is drawn in grey, but the patterns around it appears to be made of wax, bright and bold with black and cream colours. This difference in colours is important. It does not simply say that a person’s identity is the same as the patterns they wear.
Janes drawing shows a contrast between the body, which’s a place where we feel weak and vulnerable and the clothes, which hold memories that are passed down to us.
The wax, in her drawing is not something you wear it is something that weighs heavily on you. Janes drawing practice makes you think about the body and the clothes in a different way.
The patterned dress and the background are really close to covering up the figure, and this is a matter of technique and style before it is a matter of meaning. There is a line of demarcation that pushes the figure forward.
The figure can still be seen without getting lost in the fabric background details. Jane knows that drawing is different from painting it is about making choices, what to include and what to leave out.
The face is drawn in realism, the eyes are closed, the person looking at the picture can connect with the figure. We are not allowed to get close we have to stay back a little. The patterned dress and the background are still really noticeable. Jane is good at drawing the figure in a way that’s simple but still says a lot, about the person.
The name of the exhibition is Echoes in Wax and Skin. This name is chosen for a reason. Wax is something that holds a lot of history like the history of trade and the history of people being close to each other and the history of people buying and selling things and the history of ceremonies.
Skin is something that shows what happens to us. Echoes in Wax and Skin is a name that makes you think about these things. Jane does not try to make wax and skin seem like the thing. What Jane does is make wax and skin seem like they are talking to each other in a way that’s comfortable.
The person in the picture is sitting in a way that makes it seem like they are listening, not talking. The exhibition Echoes in Wax and Skin is, about wax and skin. How they make us think about things.
Janes drawing is not simple to understand. It does not make African culture look flashy. It does not try to explain everything. Janes drawing wants people, those who like to look at patterns to take their time and think about what they are seeing.
They have to sit with Janes drawing and try to figure out what it means even if it is not easy to understand at first.
BY OLIVER ENWONWU
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