Sokari Douglas Camp, born 1958, Nigeria Search this
Medium:
Mixed media on canvas
Dimensions:
H x W: 184 x 187 cm (72 7/16 x 73 5/8 in.)
Type:
Painting
Geography:
Nigeria
Date:
1985
Label Text:
Douglas Camp painted this canvas sketch, which was stapled to a board in her studio, while she was welding the sculpture Church Ede. Although the works are complementary, the sketch is not a preparatory image, but expresses some of the ideas not evident in the sculpture. As the artists states: "Looking back on it now, the sketch for Church Ede had its own life...and expresses some of the ideas that did not come through in the sculpture--to have them near each other is good because they are independent, but they also complement each other." (1998)
The Kalabari hold different types of wakes for Christians and non-Christians. Church Ede is Sokari Douglas Camp's memorial to her father, Chief Ngogo Obene George Douglas of Buguma, who died in 1984. "Ede" is a Kalabari word meaning "bed for lying in state"--"church" indicates the bed is for a Christian wake.
To the Kalabari, the grandest tribute one can offer someone upon his death is a brass bed. Deciding that steel was the grandest material she could work, Douglas Camp welded Church Ede in steel, which is evident here in the sketch as well. Church Ede has two major elements: the bed and the mourners--the body is not physically present but is indicated by a depression in the bed. In the sketch, however, the body is present, as are colorful backgrounds and the textural decor of the mourning women, who wear headties, lace blouses and striped wrappers.
Description:
Mixed media on canvas painting featuring three mourning women in head ties and dresses in light and dark blue, black, red and white, gathered around a corpse, with a blocked background in green, red, black and light blue on a grey floor.
Exhibition History:
I Am: Contemporary African Women Artists, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 20, 2019 - April 3, 2022
Insights, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 27 to November 28, 2004
Sokari Douglas Camp: Church Ede, A Tribute to Her Father, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., March 21-June 20, 1999
Sokari Douglas Camp, Kinetic Sculptures and Drawings, The October Gallery, July 3-August 3, 1985
Published References:
National Museum of African Art. 1999. Sokari Douglas Camp: Church Ede, A Tribute to Her Father. Exhibition booklet. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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