Ugonna Hosten
On becoming, 2025
Graphite on paper
77 x 57 cm
30 1/4 x 22 1/2 in
30 1/4 x 22 1/2 in
UHO 001
On Becoming was made at the same time that I made The Departure (2025). There are certain books that that I often just kind of dip in and out of,...
On Becoming was made at the same time that I made The Departure (2025). There are certain books that that I often just kind of dip in and out of, and it's a book about pre-colonial spiritual histories, and there was an image in that book about how land is cleansed. There was this instrument that's used by a dibia a native priest, and it's this teardrop shape. I was reading that, and saw the image, and I was making The Departure, I noticed that in the background, there were, like banana leaves as well. So, this image I referenced it from a trip to the butterfly enclosure in the Horniman Museum, and, you know, it's this idea of being able to freely associate and to ground my thinking through imagery. So, the fact that this instrument that's used to cleanse the land has a relationship to this banana tree,
the fruit that is on this banana tree, and it's in the enclosure of this insect that has a very insular way of becoming. Just thinking about all of this together just creates an image that speaks to the state of being. You know the fact that for a butterfly to become it has to change and transform. It goes through this insular process, and then in the end, you have this beautiful thing. But it's not without struggle. It's not without dissolution. It's not without dissolving to, you know, pulp. And it's it, in a way. It's me trying to trace, well, how did we arrive? How did my forefathers arrive at this instrument, this teardrop motif, to symbolise a cleansing, you know, and then thinking, well, actually, if the banana tree is still in my village, possibly they could have seen, You know, the banana tree and the teardrop drop motif and something in their imagination thought, well, that's the perfect shape to create something that mimics or represents the possibility for something else to occur. So, I'm trying to trace their thinking through what I have come into contact with that reminds me of that, real, kind of slow looking, creating that image of The Departure and sitting with it for a period of time, and, you know, allowing my thoughts to grow and to go on its own pathway. Something autonomous happens. On Becoming speaks to that process of transformation really...
the fruit that is on this banana tree, and it's in the enclosure of this insect that has a very insular way of becoming. Just thinking about all of this together just creates an image that speaks to the state of being. You know the fact that for a butterfly to become it has to change and transform. It goes through this insular process, and then in the end, you have this beautiful thing. But it's not without struggle. It's not without dissolution. It's not without dissolving to, you know, pulp. And it's it, in a way. It's me trying to trace, well, how did we arrive? How did my forefathers arrive at this instrument, this teardrop motif, to symbolise a cleansing, you know, and then thinking, well, actually, if the banana tree is still in my village, possibly they could have seen, You know, the banana tree and the teardrop drop motif and something in their imagination thought, well, that's the perfect shape to create something that mimics or represents the possibility for something else to occur. So, I'm trying to trace their thinking through what I have come into contact with that reminds me of that, real, kind of slow looking, creating that image of The Departure and sitting with it for a period of time, and, you know, allowing my thoughts to grow and to go on its own pathway. Something autonomous happens. On Becoming speaks to that process of transformation really...