2021

Signed and numbered, verso

Dye sublimation print on aluminum

24 x 36 inches (61 x 91.4 cm)
(Edition of 6 + 2 APs)
$10,000

40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
(Edition of 3 + 1 AP)
$20,000

According to the Odachi Nne Ebere cosmogony of the Igbo people, the universe originated in the constellation of Sirius. Chukwu, the Igbo high god, and his feminine counterpart, Eke-Nnechukwu, existed in perfect unity in the primordial blackness of space until Chukwu sectioned off a part of space exclusively for himself. Overcome by excruciating curiosity, Eke-Nnechukwu entered the space and, as she does, an explosion rips through the fabric of the universe, martyring her in the process. After the explosion, Chukwu discovers her body and begins to weep. His tears pour into her, purifying and healing her, and Eke-Nnechukwu rises from the dead with the physical universe we experience today being born on her body.

Work by Mikael Owunna