Barry Yusufu
The Breeder Open Studio
March 21, 2022–April 18, 2022The Breeder Studyroom, Athens
Nigerian painter Barry Yusufu recently completed his participation at The Breeder Open Studio in Athens. Inaugurated by The Breeder in 2019 this initiative offers time to the artist but also to the viewer in order to communicate and engage with each other in more substantial ways. For The Breeder Open Studio Barry Yusufu set up a studio inside the gallery, creating a new body of works. Artists participating in the The Breeder Open Studio have the luxury of time and also the unique opportunity to spend time in the city of Athens and get inspired by its unique heritage and vibrant contemporary scene.
Based in Abuja, Nigeria, Barry Yusufu utilises a unique blend of colour and expressive backgrounds to create powerful poignant portraits that tell the story of his people. Yusufu draws inspiration from his community painting those around him. In his own words, “My people are my inspiration, I paint the stories of my people”. He utilises symbolism and allegory to capture a sense of his subjects’ lives and experiences and to discuss notions of identity. Painting becomes here a medium for rejoicing the existence of his protagonists. Looking at art historical books whilst growing up, Yusufu saw no representation of his own people. “As an African from Nigeria I tell the story of my race as well. I see there has been hardly any documentation of my people in the past, and I’m trying to do my part.” Through these compositions he is reimagining a space in art history that was previously inaccessible to them, inscribing them in this way onto history.
In the new body of works created in Athens, Yusufu draws inspiration from the bronze artefacts, known as the Benin bronzes, which were looted from Nigeria by British troops in 1897. Here the artist paints ordinary people in everyday scenes in bronze colours on his canvas in an attempt to immortalise them and offer to his people a glorious form of representation. The artist’s styled portraits compel the viewer to delve into a close, focused observation of his subject’s shared history and experiences to life reminding us how far people can go when they are united. These paintings show the glory of the African people highlighting that they are worthy such a representation and hinting to our collective obscured histories, histories that need to be retold. Utilising allegory once again, Yusufu chooses bronze, an important material in Africa’s history, as a symbol and embeds these portraits with various narratives from the portrayal of royalty to the representation of power and injustice historically.
