SYNTHESIZING INDIGENOUS MOTIFS AND IDEAS IN VIDEO ART A STUDY OF ULI AND NSIBIDI MOTIFS

SYNTHESIZING INDIGENOUS MOTIFS AND IDEAS IN VIDEO ART A STUDY OF ULI AND NSIBIDI MOTIFS

ABSTRACT

Recently, video art concepts in Africa have been haunted by tentacles of universalism, transculturation and acculturation that threaten their socio-cultural thresholds prospectively. The implication of this includes a muted indigenous voice and the possibility of the genre not being indigenously personalised by African artists in the course of its development. The intent of this research is to address this. Methodologically, it is strictly but flexibly constrained to video art footages that are sometimes depicted in the form of animated drawings. Nsibidi and uli motifs have been chosen because of their aesthetic and functional qualities. Finally, the strategic aprproach adopted in the organisation of the study is the researcher’s attempt to justify and satisfactorily contain the vast nature of its subject matter.