Akajiuwa: A Tale of Three Artists

Akajiuwa is a surrealistic work that explores the interplay of the divine and the human in the workings of the world. Etymologically, the word Akajiuwa is an Igbo phrase formed from the condensation of three words “aka” (hand/hands), “ji” (holds/holding), “uwa” (the world). Thus, we can translate the phrase Akajiuwa to “the hand that holds the world.”

The work is both a mirror and an observer of society.

The central focus of the work is the goddess Akajiuwa. Like a potter, she forms earth and other planets (attached to her sash). The sash on which the planets are attached is shaped like the sign “libra”. This points to the fine balance, symmetry, and harmony she strives to maintain across all the worlds she forms. Garbed in traditional Igbo beads and finery, Akajiuwa is the picture of royalty.

She is creativity and divinity, energy, and potential.

The greatest of all artists.

Unlike the patricentric image adopted by monotheistic religions, the artist makes Akajiuwa female, a testament to the female’s ability to create, give life, and bring into existence. Succinctly put, she is the great mother, the source of all that was, all that is, and all that will be.

Akajiuwa’s face is a canvas, painted over with palpable grief. Her tears are liquid thunder as she…