Snapshot
Description
Statistics have it that the living standard of an average Nigerian rank’s way below a dollar per day. This, unfortunately, makes necessities such as power supply largely unaffordable on one hand, whereas the government lacks funds to make power constantly available on the other.
Sometimes weeks would pass without power supply but when available, there is the ecstasy that spirals into echoes of joy which rings throughout the neighborhood. Eventually, “Tan Imole,” which is the natural response to this reality in Yoruba means, “turn on the light.”
This piece depicts my conception of the client-helper relationship. The way light brings joy in my neighborhood in Nigeria, I see the client as a bulb that can always bring illumination and joy to their environment/family. Indeed, the bulb is not broken while it retains its potential of coming on. Similarly, this is the joy I would feel seeing a client reaching their full potential through our therapeutic relationship.
While the bulb is yet to come on, the helper acts as a source of light to the client through reflections. The coming together of the two-art works represents the therapeutic alliance brought about by empathy, compassion, unconditional positive regards, authenticity, and the genuine nature of the helper.
The two visuals are marked by symbols of my culture and various elements that depict the world of my clients and their families.
Hence, “Tan Imole” is a work that depicts various interactions that occur between the clients, the helper, and their active environments.
