by Oleksandra Volakova
Complex questions of unsustainability, climate change, and environmental degradation, combined with people’s creativity, can bring unexpected results. Art offers novice perspectives and solutions to those questions. This semester, students visiting the Smith Reading Room in the Olin Library can visit a powerful and thought-provoking exhibition created by Bright Ugochukwu Eke, a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
“Egg, Earth and Essence” is an exhibition where nature and people intersect. Bright invites viewers to consider their relationship with the environment and their impact on the natural world through a unique usage of space and texture. The central metaphor of the exhibition is the resemblance and similarities between our Earth and an egg. The egg’s spherical shape is similar to that of the Earth, and the internal changes it undergoes parallel life transformations on EarthEarth. Like the planet, the egg possesses hidden processes that are not fully understood. The egg symbolizes deep mysteries related to life, fertility, and the passage of time. Everything about an egg or Earth, from its creation to the end, the time passage – everything is a mystery. And it is one of the main points of the exhibition.
The installation of “Egg, Earth and Essence” was possible with the help of 22 student volunteers who devoted their free time to help with the installation and preparing the materials. Various departments helped at different stages of the exhibition, from an idea to the presentation. An official opening ceremony was held on October 1st, where people who helped coordinate the exhibition and the author presented the results of their work. An artist talked about his path of exploration of his interests and medium, mentioning a project that is united with current Egg, Earth, and Essence by their common goal. Bright’s art project, Acid Rain, was about water as a natural resource, people’s overconsumption, and pollution. The materials used can surprise with their simplicity – water, cellophane bags, carbon, and threads, creating an illusion of frozen-in-the-air water drops. The droplets can be either transparent or polluted with carbon, arranged in a random order to create a voluminous art project in a space.
Bright’s installations make people think about their relationships with nature and the way they treat and perceive the Earth. They show that even small changes and contributions to the environment can be the beginning of change. Visit the Smith Reading Room in the Olin Library and experience the exhibition firsthand while this unique opportunity is available – the installation will be up until February 2nd.
