Destabilizing the photographic medium through digital and manual manipulation, Oghobase’s installation Constructed Realities literally and figuratively puts the image up for inspection. He blurs, layers, and collages written and photographic records from Nigeria’s colonial period (1861–1960) to complicate their narratives of objectivity and authority, which were intended to legitimate the British Empire’s systems of economic, political, and social domination. “My practice questions how an image can transmit different emotions,” asserts the artist. “Even if I have to go the poetic route, I still feel I owe myself the responsibility to produce work that will talk about something vital—about human existence, and the human condition.”
Gallery label from New Photography 2023: Kelani Abass, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Yagazie Emezi, Amanda Iheme, Abraham Oghobase, Karl Ohiri, Logo Oluwamuyiwa, May 28, 2023–September 16, 2023