1999-2000
We all have a path to walk, and I believe that the path is the most important thing in our lives.
Of course, the path depends largely on our choices, but it is mostly influenced by the context in which we find ourselves at a given moment and the people we find ourselves with.
If someone had told me that I would go to Africa, I would never have believed it, but, lo and behold, three years after I graduated from the Academy of Arts, in 1999, though a set of given circumstances, I went to Nigeria, where I lived for 9 months.
At first, it was difficult to get used to “another world”, because it is indeed another world, entirely different from the European space.
I needed time to accommodate and get used to the new space, and only after 3 months I was given a workshop where I began to work.
But work on what?
After travelling through many cities and lands (Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and
Yankari), I had the opportunity to see, sense and smell another climate, other shapes and colours, other human typologies.
I believe, nevertheless, that I was most influenced by the light and by the ripe colours of Africa, with its red earth and exotic plants.
I discovered the fascinating Nigerian world, a simple, exotic, occult world, with an impressive artistic tradition. The wooden sculptures and masks, the instruments used in various rituals, thrilled my senses.
This passage from a space into another space and this time off work inevitably made me rethink and rephrase everything on the surface.
In my workshop, I began to paint on small cut-out fragments of already prepared canvas, and then I made many drawings and sketches.
The more I worked, the simpler things became on the surface!
Despite the difficulties I met in Nigeria, I believe that my African period meant a new beginning for my art.
Beti Vervega