Wilfred Ukpong, Are my Dreams Too Bold for the Carbon Skin I Bear #2?, 2010-2021 (No Specific Date Provided)

Looking at Are my Dreams Too Bold for the Carbon Skin I Bear #2?, it instantly caught me with its shallow aperture, maybe F2.8, and its contrast between the skin of the person captured, and the red velvety texture behind them. The framing of the subjects head is what initially grabbed my attention. Furthermore, the sort of horn motif on the subject’s head curves and wraps in a manner that accentuates the arching line behind it on the red material. There is clearly a harsh white light being angled right onto the face of the subject as their skin reflects it. Because it is such an intimate photo the subject’s skin texture is highly defined, as well as the cloth covering them. Due to the close proximity, the texture on the horns makes it unclear as to if they are a prop or later added in using photoshop or a different tool. The photo feels somewhere between John Claridge’s portrait of Chet Baker and the cover art used for Childish Gambino’s album titled Awaken My Love shot by Ibra Ake. I think the image works visually as it’s caption reinstates a message I somewhat got without reading it. There is this almost devilish depiction of the subject that aligns with the question of if their skin is too dark for their dreams to be validated. This contrast is exacerbated by that close-up F2.8 exposure.

Strongly, We Believe In the Power of this Motile Thing That Will Take Us There #2 uses a more mid range aperture such as F8, which captures the foreground and then some subjects between that foreground and middle ground. The photo shows four subjects riding a sort of buoy thing in the shallow part of an ocean. There is a strong usage of lines to frame this image. Each subjects extended arm creates a long horizontal line that is parallel to the breaking wave’s line behind them and the buoy-like object they ride on. Each scarf on their necks also creates a strong diagonal composition that joins the water beneath them in the foreground. Once more color and contrast play a strong role here, where the subjects’ dark skin and the red buoy contrast heavily against the murky brown/blue saltwater. The frame of the image plays an interesting role which further strengthens the contrast between the subjects and their environment. These stylistic choices attract more images to the subjects and what they are riding, than the water itself. I think this work is less successful than the last as while the image may be interesting, it is more difficult to ascertain the context of what is being photographed/what is going on. Either the gallery or the artist themself expects viewers to maybe be more aware of the crisis in the Niger-Delta that they are trying to raise awareness for. Even with the context the gallery provides from captions and the introduction to the exhibit it is difficult to know what the subjects are riding. The caption further obscures the idea of the photo with such an ambiguous statement. In terms of visual references the four subjects and the object they are riding remind me somewhat of the Yellow Submarine music video by The Beatles. The tubelike shape of the object and the four subject frame similarly to the shots in the video of John, Ringo, George, and Paul looking out the portholes of the submarine.

By And by, I Will Carry This Burden of Hope, Till the Laments of my Child is Heard #1 focuses strongly on contrast between the red skin of the three subjects and the blackness of the background behind them. It seems like the three subjects, one of them being a mother, are morning a child. It is too difficult to determine the aperture due to the background framing the subjects. Texture has some sort of importance in the photo as the lens + printing highlights these sort of patches of very glossy surfaces such as the clothing the mother and child wear against the matte aspects of the photo such as the baby’s skin or the cradle-like object its carried in. But contrast more than anything is the most important because it creates a sort of parallel to the structuring of a madonna and child painting, where Mary would be holding Jesus, and occasionally framed by other subjects. The contrast emphasizes the somber looks from all three adult subjects that could otherwise be lost to a more exciting background. There is a clear stress on human relationships as that is the most readily available visual information in the photograph. A photograph this reminds me of is Tomoko Uemura in her bath. Life Magazine, 2 June 1972 by W. Eugene Smith. There is a similar sort of posing to both images where there is a clear message or idea being conveyed, but it is not a capture of the subject’s natural, daily life. Both also hold the obvious connection of a mother holding their child. This photo is somewhat effective in its presentation as it provides enough emotion for an audience to hopefully read without the need for a caption or artist statement. The difference in appearance between the baby and the mother suggests maybe the baby is even dead and this could be its funeral; regardless, there is a clear note of melancholy and pain in the three adult subjects’ faces and a rather alarming lack of any emotion in the baby. Without the added context however, there is just not enough to understand the artistic decisions for the embellishment of the photo’s setting or subjects, it makes it nearly alien in presentation.