Gerald Chukwuma Tells Igbo Story through ‘Water Carried Us Here, Water Will Carry Us Away’

Tosin Clegg 

The legend-inspired solo exhibition which kicked off on Saturday, March 8th, and will run till April 5th, 2025, has now been open to the general public. 

It pays homage to ‘The Igbo Landing’, the mass suicide in 1803 by captive Igbo people who took control of the slave ship they were on, and refused to submit to slavery in Georgia, United States; Gerald Chukwuma’s new body of work, Water Carried Us Here, Water Will Carry Us Away has debuted at O’DA Art Gallery.

The bravery has inspired African American folklore and culture, particularly in the American South.

By contrast, in Nigeria, little appears in public records of ‘The Igbo Landing’. Chukwuma has explored this historic event through portraiture and watercolour abstraction in The Wrinkle Series and Index Series respectively. The Wrinkle Series are a set of works on canvas paper made using a multilayered close drip method. They are inspired by Chukwuma’s travels through southeastern Nigeria during which he collected oral accounts from the descendant community of “The Igbo Landing” in Southeastern Nigeria. 

 Drawing from these accounts, Chukwuma has derived a conceptual approach to connecting currents between our seemingly distant continents, which are in essence, entwined through our shared history, heritage and tales of survival. Working as both a lament and a celebration of the passage of time, the series is an interrogation of archival omissions and its impact on our recollection of our history. The density of contour and scumbling lines which define these paintings, play a significant role in conveying the visual rhythm in the composition; highlighting the tension between inner emotions and the external world.

Chukwuma’s focus on line quality and mark making, evident in his celebrated wood and metal sculptures, was long inspired by the ancient Uli art tradition from southeastern Nigeria. Underlying Chukwuma’s shift from his celebrated sculptures to painting and watercolors, is his belief in Uli motifs as cultural and personal signifiers. In these new works, paper, found object collage and Uli iconography, maps sections of the canvas, continuing his career-long obsession with the ancient mark making system indigenous to Igbos and its neighbouring regions. 

The title ‘Water Carried Us Here, Water Will Carry Us Away,’ was drawn from a song believed to have been sung by the enslaved Igbos as they marched into the ocean in Georgia, United States. 

This title encapsulates the duality of water; both as a vehicle of bondage during the transatlantic slave trade and as a means of reclaiming autonomy and resistance.

More than two centuries later, echoes of this song remain alive in southeastern Nigeria, exemplifying the enduring continuity of ancient beliefs, traditions and resilience within the Igbo community and beyond.

In the second set of works, The Index Series, Chukwuma uses a unique technique involving watercolors and inks to create abstract shapes with figural references. A salt treatment creates a crystallised effect of crisp texture and stark beauty. “Technique is therapy” says the artist who emphasises the importance of method and intention, often valuing it over the final outcome.   

The result is a dynamic interplay between rigid control and chance discoveries, determinism and freewill. Parallels begin to emerge between Chukwuma’s reliance on pools of water (to form the base of his compositions) and the waters of the Atlantic Ocean over which millions of Africans were ferried to slavery.

As much about viscosity and colour action as it is about the past, water as a medium takes on multiple layers of significance for Chukwuma as a powerful and multifaceted symbol, reinforcing the connection between Africa and its diaspora, loss and connection, as well as trauma and creativity. By centering water as a metaphor, Chukwuma deepens the understanding of how modernity and identity are shaped and defined in today’s world.

If The Wrinkle Series is focused on tragedy and remembrance, The Index Series are concerned with the possibilities of fate and new futures. “We should also look at the possibilities of what that history gave to us and what better things it can bring for us because it will continue to evolve”, says Chukwuma, displaying the need for audacity in art, the importance of storytelling and oral histories, the legacies of the Atlantic Slavery Trade, memory, cultural continuity and the evolution of artistic identity.