Dennis Osadebe's Near Future

We spoke to Dennis Osadebe, whose series 'Work. Life. Balance' features in our third print issue, which explores living and working in the digital era.

Written by The Republic

Sep 9, 2019

Horse and Female Rider, 2019 DENNIS OSADEBE

Works from Dennis Osadebe’s recent exhibition, ‘Work. Life. Balance.’, feature in our forthcoming print issue, which explores living and working in the digital era. Osadebe is an exciting artist known for images that exude the brilliance of Lagos, the mega-city teeming with hustle and fast-capital. Osadebe is among a growing number of artists thinking about African futures. For Osadebe, however, the future need not be distant nor flying car-centric. Instead, Osadebe works in what viewers may call the ‘near future’, a term developed by anthropologist, Jane Guyer, that invites thinking about the future as not only long-term, but also what happens next: next month, next day, etc.

Like Guyer, Osadebe’s images ask not the question of when, but how soon. And Osadebe’s, uniquely, is an outlook situated where past meets future, where tradition meets invention and innovation. Osadebe’s images speak to the anonymity and ambiguity that underlie our increasingly digital world but they are also rooted in traditions of masking and mask-making. His recent series, in particular, visualizes and evokes a sense of the frictions, in their quest for self-preservation, the African encounters amid western-dominated globalization. How, Osadebe often seems to ask, do we stay true to ourselves despite being surrounded by an ever-changing world? Recently, we talked to Osadebe about his practice.

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Dennis Osadebe's Near Future

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