Sometimes, someday, somehow, somewhere inside my head I get into the habit of asking a whole lot of questions about creation. Hence, I wanted to name this particular painting 'What If.'
This fateful day, as I sauntered in my rumination, one of the trees standing in my compound dropped a leaf, firing my imaginations even further: 'What if humans were created as plants?' 'What if plants are also human?' 'What if they communicate with each other?' 'What if they also form and live in communities?' Perhaps, 'Yes,' in the bush or thick forests.'
That was not all: 'What if leaves can talk? I think I’ve heard that they communicate with one other. At the very least, I know of a very sensitive leaf named 'padimo’ among the Yoruba-speaking tribes of Nigeria. It closes up when touched. I even learned it could also be commanded to close up and it will strictly obey.
Needless to say, there is this long list of 'What ifs' cooking in my head and being myself, I decided to research the phrase only to discover that an online T.V. series goes by this same title: ‘What If.’
There and then, 'What if' was dropped as the title and the search for a replacement began in earnest. The critical challenge was: what can replace 'What If' and still resonate with the essence of the painting. Before long, a new name emerged: ‘Imagine.’ Imagine that leaves were human. Imagine that leaves could exhibit the ability to create, reason, and take decisions on their own. Imagine this vibrant multi-colored painting staring at you as a girl.
Created as it were out of my endlessly inquisitive nature, ‘Imagine’ is a 36’’ by 24’’ abstract painting in the style of Yayoi Kusama’s infinite dots, slightly textured with black background on a black wooden frame. Just Imagine.