By Damiete Braide
Everyday around the world, someone must die attesting to this truth that death is inevitable. For the visual artist, Egwu Ameh who finds pleasure in painting, death can become something not dreadful if people come to terms with the concept of peace in death.
The artist, who studied Fine Art and Applied Art at Delta State University, Abaraka, became a professional artist in 2017, and has featured in various art shows and had 2 solo exhibitions, one abroad and one in Lagos, Nigeria.
His inspiration to seek afterlife answers came following the death of his father and a friend who left this world at a young age of eighteen: “First thing first, I would say curiosity inspired me. I have been curious about the afterlife, I would say curiosity and the death of my dad inspired my body of work titled ‹Fantasies of the Other Side›,» said the artist.
During his second solo exhibition, Ameh displayed 15 paintings at Rele Gallery, Onikan, Lagos. But he actually started putting together his afterlife findings on canvas with his first solo exhibition at Los Angeles (LA) titled “Life After Life.” The artist worked for seven months to put together the pieces of “Fantasies of the Other Side”.
Hence, his exhibited works are bright and colorful casting off the shadow of fear or sadness in death. Though each piece speaks of a different afterlife belief, the mood on each canvas painting depicts a level of peace experienced in death. Some of the titles of the works he exhibited were: Absolute Peace and Quietness, Infinite Rest and, A Perfect Circle (Rebirth).
Speaking further on his inspiration and findings, he noted: “The death of my father made me curious about what happens when we die and where do we go to when we die. What does the afterlife look like? Where is my dad right now? How is he faring and where is he existing at this moment gave birth to this second exhibition. From when I was small, I was always curious about what happens whenever we die.”
Among his 15 artworks portraying “Fantasies of the Other Side,” the one he was most emotional bond to while creating was the portrait of Kehinde. Kehinde, he explained, was a family friend who died of cancer at the age of 18.
The organisers, Rele Gallery, was pleased to present the second installment of Ameh Egwuh’s two-part meditation on death and the afterlife. It said, “Where the first part, held in Los Angeles, United States of America, dialogue with mortality and transcendence, the works in ‘Fantasies of the Other Side’, offer imaginative considerations on the afterlife.”