By: Chieloka Anadu
Long before he made sculptures, Monkorr Raymond Mgba was a child watching festivals, masquerades, masks, and carved figures, and being fascinated by their boldness, their symbolism, and the stories they carried. Those early encounters with traditional African art and visual culture are the root of his practice today. Now a Nigerian contemporary artist based in Lagos, Monkorr explores African identity, spirituality, and leadership through mixed media on wood, building bold geometric compositions with sculpted 3D faces. His aim is for viewers to “feel the presence of the ancestral figure, not just see it,” and he describes each piece as “a dialog between tradition and modernity.”
He draws on those formative experiences alongside his own life to explore the full range of human emotion, from joy and celebration to pain and darkness. Through the work he tries to bring these influences into conversation with contemporary forms, creating something new while staying connected to his roots.
For influences, Monkorr names Woodrow Nash and Kim Jung Gi.
His materials are wood, resin, and metal. He carves and engraves wood, bends and twists metal, and uses molds and casts to create forms, and each sculpture passes through several stages of making, often at least five distinct processes. He enjoys working with his hands to turn familiar materials and forms into something unexpected, and the combination yields sculptures rich in symbolism and storytelling, “where material, texture, and form each play a role in the story the work tells.”
When creative blocks arrive, Monkorr has come to see them as a sign that he is struggling to make sense of something in his life. For him, creativity is closely tied to understanding and making meaning of experience, whether joyful, painful, or unexpected, and when he can find that meaning, inspiration follows naturally. Rather than forcing it, he stays open to life, pays attention to what he is experiencing, and trusts that “the work will come when I’m ready to understand it.”
If his sculptures could speak, he thinks they would say: “Take a moment to look beyond what you see on the surface. There is a story here, but it may not be the same story for everyone.” He wants the work to spark curiosity and wonder while inviting people to reflect on their own experience. The pieces carry traces of his life, his cultural roots, and what he is still trying to understand about being human. In a way, he says, they are personal totems, but he hopes viewers will find something of themselves in them too.
Participating in the Anadu Art Fair means a great deal to Monkorr. Personally, it is a chance to share something very close to him, his experiences, his cultural roots, and the ideas he explores in his sculptures, with people who may connect with them in ways he never imagined. Professionally, it is a chance to grow, meet other artists and people in the art world, and bring his work into new conversations. For him, it isn’t only about showing sculptures but “about creating connections, learning from the experience, and continuing to develop my practice.”
Follow Monkorr’s journey on instagram: rroknom
Blog
This section provides an overview of the blog, showcasing a variety of articles, insights, and resources to inform and inspire readers.
-
Personal Totems: Wood, Metal, and the Presence of the Ancestors
By: Chieloka Anadu Long before he made sculptures, Monkorr Raymond Mgba was a child watching…
-
Feelings Words Can’t Capture: Ese’s Intuitive Abstractions
By: Chieloka Anadu Some feelings resist language, and Vincentia Esinam Anthony, known as Ese, paints…
-
Pause, Connect, Reflect: The Portraits of Okwufulueze
By: Chieloka Anadu What does it mean to grow up as a girl in a…
Leave a Reply