Drawing inspiration from his Nigerian roots, Ehikhamenor fuses tradition with contemporary expression through intricate patterns, symbolic motifs, and a rich visual language that weaves together the threads of mythology and cultural heritage. Brimming with boldly colored photographs and reproductions, this book focuses on Ehikhamenor’s most recent work, such as Daydream Esoterica, Saints and Sanctums, Still Standing, and A Biography of the Forgotten, investigating them through a transcultural analysis of mobility, circulation, networks, and connectivity
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Evening!
I HAVE been assigned the duty of reviewing the Monograph, “Victor Ehikhamenor – Chronicles of the Enchanted World”, which is being presented today. Usually, such a duty is assigned to an intellectual or subject matter expert, who can authoritatively summarise what is contained in the book, and succinctly highlight key aspects and messages thereof. But today is different, as I am neither a subject matter expert nor have I ever before today reviewed any book!
Therefore, for this review, I opted to borrowed in parts, the more tangible words of direct collaborators, along with Victor, in the making of this book; and to their voices, I have added mine, especially in describing personal moments around today’s subject matter, my own experince of Victor’s art, and person; and, my hopes for him!
My initial relationship with Victor developed around my interest in knowing more about and acquiring some of his artworks. However, over time, that relationship has morphed into friendship. Hence, our ongoing discussions and occasional interactions had also evolved around mutual intellectual and artistic curiosities. These have allowed me proximity to learn more about his thought processes and better appreciate the essence of his artistic production. Therefore, I was able to quickly discover that Victor’s art came from a very deep place; had purpose; a unique aesthetic; was both technically complex and competent; was very beautiful, and will long endure! In the meantime, I had managed to acquire a number of Ehikhamenor artworks from the different epochs of his artistic production, up to this point. As well, I became aware of Victor’s great commitment and focus, and I have had the privilege of watching him carefully plug away at his well-thought-out plans.
Accordingly, it has not been a surprise to me, but rather, a sincere delight, to see Victor gain increasing ascendancy in global recognition as a notable artist of black diaspora descent, through his consistently good, innovative and skilled productions. This is what has now been formally surveyed and documented by a consortium of notable art scholars, museum professionals and writers, in the book newly published by Prestel, which is one of the top publishing houses in the world!
To describe this book itself, one can hardly do any better than borrowing the words of PenguinRandomHouse, when they first announced the imminent release of the book on their website in March 2024:
“This visually striking book is the first to explore the oeuvre of the celebrated multidisciplinary Nigerian artist, and its themes of identity, globalisation, migration, cultural heritage, and African postcolonial identities.
From his birth in a rural village in Nigeria to his unorthodox ascent as a global art star, Victor Ehikhamenor is garnering worldwide attention for his vibrant and incisive works that engage contemporary art, African history, and ...colonial politics of global Black identity.
Drawing inspiration from his Nigerian roots, Ehikhamenor fuses tradition with contemporary expression through intricate patterns, symbolic motifs, and a rich visual language that weaves together the threads of mythology and cultural heritage. Brimming with boldly colored photographs and reproductions, this book focuses on Ehikhamenor’s most recent work, such as Daydream Esoterica, Saints and Sanctums, Still Standing, and A Biography of the Forgotten, investigating them through a transcultural analysis of mobility, circulation, networks, and connectivity.
It explores seven key aspects of the artist’s practice—rosaries, perforations, installations, paintings, drawings, collage, and sculpture—to show how he creates complex portraits of African peoples and African spaces”. (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/761632/victor-ehikhamenor-by-sylvester-okwunodu-ogbechie/)
The new book, Victor Ehikhamenor – Chronicles of The Enchanted, by Sylvester Ogbechie, with contributions by Dan Hicks, Emmanuel Iduma, Toni Kan, and Barbara Plankensteiner, and published by Prestel, was eventually issued in May this year, 2025.
To put my review presentation in a proper context, let me share an anecdote about a specific Victor Ehikhamenor artwork in my collection.
Early in the evening of Tuesday, 21st Nov. 2023, I sent Victor a WhatsApp note, informing him that we had, on the day before, finally hung up and unveiled my second Ehikhameor rosaries artwork. That particular artwork, from the Oba series, though smaller, is somewhat similar to the cover illustration of this Monograph! A truly beautiful artwork. My Oba rosaries artwork had lain hidden away in my house for a full year, its being in possession, unknown to anyone else, until that unveiling! I went on to say to Victor, “You should come round to have a look at your work and share wine with me. I am truly, truly, grateful to have this work, and very much enamoured of your work and creativity”. Victor showed up later that day, and together, we shared wine and enjoyed looking at his mesmerising artwork on my wall!
This last July, on Tuesday 29th to be precise, Victor contacted me later that day kindly brought me a copy of the beautiful new book that I am now reviewing. Much later, the same day, I proceeded to start reading the book. Although I was extremely busy during that material time, I found it extremely hard to put down the book. Consequently, I ended up staying awake late into the night on the consecutive next few days, as I continued to read the book alongside getting on with work that had piled up while I was away abroad, in the immediately preceding couple of weeks.
This well-scripted and illustrated book shed substantial, rich new light for me on the meaning and significance of Victor Ehikhamenor’s artworks across the length and breadth, as well as different periods and media, of his practice. I trust that diligent reading of the book, not merely flipping through its pages, will not only show you new ways of seeing, but will enhance your appreciation of any Ehikhamenor artwork you may already know. Furthermore, the experience of reading the book will almost certainly, going forward, extend your overall enjoyment of any great art in general!
However, I must briefly point out a few aspects of the book’s main theme, which is, “Ehikhamenor and Enchantment”!!
Ogbechie asserted, “Ehikhamenor is a global citizen who feels at home anywhere in the world, and his artworks have been exhibited worldwide. In this regard, he has been described as an Afropllitan, a term he both embraces and contests. Attributed to a concept advanced by philosopher and cultural theorist Achille Mbembe, Afro-Pluralism refers to a way of being “African” and “cosmopolitan” in the world and understanding African cultures as hybrids formed from many different influences and roots. …..Afropolitanism refuses in principle any form of victim identity despite the historical injustices and violence inflicted on the continent and its people. Instead, it takes a political and cultural stance in relation to the nation, to race, and to the issue of difference in general. Conscious of the continent’s rebirth in the global imagination, the Afropolitan always seeks to be a healthy enabler of Africa’s viability as a font of transformation and triumph. Ehikhamenor’s art reflects an Afropolitan sensibility in his transnational practice, use of diverse media, and entrepreneurial attitude. At the same time, the artist insists on the importance of his location as a transnational artist working within established indigenous African traditions of art and cultural practice. As such, he maintains studios in Lagos, Nigeria, and Maryland in the United States, and moves frequently between these locations, through the UK to other sites of practice in Europe and Asia”. (Page 13).
Ogbechie, now partially quoting Emmanuel Iduma, continued, “Ehikhamenor’s artworks revel in profusion but regardless of how they are rendered – by charcoal, acrylic, enamel, or nail perforations – his images reference an enchanted world inspired by folktales and city life, by stories real and imagined, and the presentness of history. Their dense surface and tactile exuberance create what Alan deSouza described as “phenomenological encounters in the present that visually, almost haptically, transfix the viewer.” Ogbechie then concluded, “It is this capacity for enchantment that most characterises his art. Emerging from a cultural environment deeply attuned to nature and the supernatural, Ehikhamenor reframes the fractiousness of contemporary Black identity as a phantasmagorical landscape even as he seeks always to locate the dream world in the everyday. His profuse lines cast a spell, and the dense surfaces of his paintings and installations hint at worlds of mystery just outside of the viewer’s gaze.” (Page 19).
Let me now return briefly to my own earlier assertion, that Ehikhamenor’s art comes from a very deep place!
Ogbechie’s explanation of the origins of Victor Ehikhamenor’s now-famed Rosaries artworks is apt. He wrote, “Ehikhamenor’s experience of the Venetian gallery owner labelling as fetish the Igun brass pendants in his installation A Biography Of The Forgotten left a mark. …..When Victor returned to his Lagos studio from Venice, he decided to adopt Catholic rosaries as a principal medium in his art. He began to use rosaries, an undeniably Christian religious item, to depict Benin Oba (kings) and Edo religious imagery, thus producing contemporary installations grounded in Edo-Benin cultural specificity. This resulted in artworks that are easily recognisable as coming from Africa but grounded in the history of its global relations.”
There are many more enthralling threads and brilliant analysis of Victor Ehikhamenor’s oeuvre by all the contribing writers to the 208-page book, which, in my view, is a fitting scholarly review and documentation of Ehikhamenor’s art practice to date, and marks a noteable milestone in the yet unfolding journey towards his undoubted destiny, of becoming one of the most important artists of his generation, worldwide!
Before closing my review, I would share another WhatsApp note to Victor, this one, sent upon my finishing reading the book about 11:30 pm on the night of Saturday, 3rd Aug.:
“Dear Victor,
To say I am most proud of you, which I am, would nevertheless be an understatement!
Although I was always sure in my mind that you are an important, hard-working, special, and gifted contemporary artist from Africa, Ogbechie’s brilliant new book, Victor Ehikhamenor, has helped to set your huge accomplishments in their proper context, in contemporary global art production and meaning!
Well done! But I know your most important years are yet ahead.
I hope to be a witness, admirer and supporter always!
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, every word in it, from cover to cover!
All best wishes,
FA”.
Finally, I am convinced that this brilliant and most incisive book will delight, inspire and bless all who read it. Accordingly, I proudly commend this monograph to you all; to all of Nigeria, and the world!
Victor, may you continue to attain ever greater heights!
Thank you very much for your attention.