Nigerian environment artist weaves cans into portraits

Record ID: 1736535

  • Title: Nigerian environment artist weaves cans into portraits
  • Date: 4th August 2023
  • Summary: OGUN, NIGERIA (JULY 6, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF IFEDILICHUKWU PICKING UP EMPTY BEVERAGE CANS FROM BINS AND DRAINAGE VARIOUS OF IFEDILICHUKWU WASHING EMPTY BEVERAGE CANS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST, CHIBUIKE IFEDILICHUKWU, SAYING: ‘’Basically, you know when you are at the waste bin to collect waste, you will face the challenges of people addressing you like he doesn’t know what he is doing, or they will see you as a madman, for them but not for me because I know what I am doing.’’ LAGOS, NIGERIA (JULY 9, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARTWORKS MADE FROM EMPTY BEVERAGE CANS
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2023 07:57
  • Keywords: ART BEVERAGE CANS ENVIRONMENT WEAVING
  • Location: LAGOS AND OGUN, NIGERIA
  • City: LAGOS AND OGUN, NIGERIA
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Africa,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA003202203082023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Nigerian artist Chibuike Ifedilichukwu creates portraits by weaving discarded aluminium beverage cans.
    Growing up with his grandmother, Ifedilichukwu would weave raffia strings into sleeping mats.
    Then he went to university and became more conscious of the environment, and started using the same weaving technique but with a different medium – beverage cans.
    Aluminium is one of the most environmentally friendly metals because of its sustainability and capacity to be infinitely recycled, however, they come with their own eco-price if not properly discarded or upcycled in friendly ways.
    ‘’From industrial activities to individual human activities, waste is being generated on a daily basis and discarded with little or no thought even to the effect it has on the ecosystem, our environment. So I chose the path of collecting this waste and adding value to them, which I call upcycling,’’ he says.
    Ifedilichukwu starts by cutting up beverage cans that he already picked up and disinfected, then cuts them into desired inches depending on what he wants to work on.
    He then weaves a plain canvas first with the shiny part of the beverage can, before filling it in with the coloured parts to bring out his desired pattern or portrait.
    A piece of his art can take from 200 to 1,000 beverage cans depending on the size.
    Ifedilichukwu has sold several dozens of his pieces which go for as high as 1,000 USD because of their lifespan and durability.
    ‘’The work is a lifetime piece because one, it is produced with a metal aluminium which has a long life span, and that of plastic which we know that it has a duration of close to 100-200 years to decay,’’ he says.
    The 37-year-old says he sometimes pays people a token to keep their beverage cans for him or scavenge for them, but when he scavenges himself, people sometimes call him a madman.
    ‘’Basically, you know when you are at the waste bin to collect waste, you will face the challenges of people addressing you like he doesn’t know what he is doing, or they will see you as a madman, for them but not for me because I know what I am doing,’’ Ifedilichukwu says.
    So far, he has done over 30 group exhibitions, won several awards on saving the environment and will be exhibiting in London later this year.
    (Seun Sanni, Angela Ukomadu)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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