Artist profile:
When Nigerian artist Chinwe Uwatse puts paint to canvas, she recreates an ancient
tradition of local women in modern form.
Give us a short background on yourself.
I was born Cynthia Chinwe Ntephe, fifty four years ago,
in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. I am the second
of four children and an only daughter.
Did you always
want to be an artist?
I did not really set
out to become an
artist. Art was my
second career choice;
in my teens I wanted
to study Veterinary
Medicine. However,
in the 1970’s one
had to excel in all the
science subjects to be
admitted into the study
of Veterinary Medicine,
and unfortunately,
at the age sixteen, I
was a total dunce in
Physics and did not
make the grade; that
put paid to any chance
of me becoming a
veterinarian.
How then did
your journey to be becoming an artist begin?
I cannot really say that my journey to becoming an
artist ‘began’ at any particular time. As far back as I
can remember, I have always loved to draw and paint.
As a child, I was quite creative, but it did not readily
occur to me that art would be my career. This came
from a series of events.
The first time I took the O Level examinations at the
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age of sixteen, I did not make the required grades to
go to university. My parents were disappointed, but
they made me re-register, this time, with realistic
goals. I had to review my choice of subjects. As I had
failed Physics, I decided to take up art for which I
knew I had the talent. While preparing for the O
Level examinations,
we were taught about
contemporary Nigerian
artists. Apart from Ben
Enwonwu, who was a
relative, I had not really
known about other
Nigerian artists. I was
fascinated.
The thought of art
as a career, the more
I thought about it,
the more scary and
exciting it became. I
had a sense of being
about to embark on a
psychedelic journey
without the aid of mind
bending narcotics.
My life and attitudes
were switching from
a yen to save animals
to consciously and
subconsciously
appealing to emotions. I
then, slowly, embarked
on an ever expanding
journey of using lines
and colour to create artistic themes that, hopefully,
cause a psychological and emotional reaction in my
audience.
Which artists, African and abroad, have
inspired your work?