
Sokari Douglas Camp(Nigerian, born 1958)Conversation with Eve (Snake Frangipani) 2016 61 x 48.5 x 26cm (24 x 19 1/8 x 10 1/4in).
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Sokari Douglas Camp (Nigerian, born 1958)
welded steel with acrylic paint
61 x 48.5 x 26cm (24 x 19 1/8 x 10 1/4in).
Footnotes
This small steel work depicts the moment in Genesis when Eve gives Adam fruit from the forbidden tree. The red wraps around their waists suggest that they have already eaten, and are self-conscious about their nakedness. Their altered relationship with their environment is communicated by the positioning of the snake. The reptile rears up from the ground, physically separating the couple. It intimates the banishment from Eden and a distancing from God.
Adam and Eve are shown standing on top of an oil barrel. This is a recurring motif in Sokari's work. Raised in Buguma, the artist experienced the discovery of petroleum deposits in the Niger Delta first-hand. Large multi-nationals such as Chevron and Anglo-Dutch Shell made moves to acquire excavation rights. The fact that the local people could not benefit from their own resources due to poverty struck the artist as a great injustice.
We can interpret the oil barrel here as a symbol of humankind's fallen status; our weakness for immediate gratification, regardless of how it might impact our environment and fellow creatures.
Bibliography
The October Gallery, Primavera: Sokari Douglas Camp C.B.E, (London, 2016), p.4.