George Osodi
Nigerian, b. 1974
Blackened Explosion, circa 2005
Photograph
Oil Rich Niger Delta 2003-2007, collection of George Osodi
This photograph from George Osodi’s Oil Rich Niger collection shows the burning aftermath of an oil rig explosion on the Niger Delta. Nigeria is the leading oil producer in the continent, and its inhabitants have consequently lived amid much oil-related conflict. Despite of the beginning of the amnesty process in Nigeria in 2009, many local factions feel that the root causes for the conflict, such as the lack of local sovereignty over the sources of oil, remain unaddressed. Militia violence continues to injure the environment and its people, and the delta that nourishes nearby communities is here engulfed in flames and polluted with hazardous byproducts. By capturing this scene, Osodi highlights the devastation experienced by the environment itself.
Dylan Bess ’21
Bibliography
Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta : Managing the Complex Politics of Petro-violence, edited
by Cyril Obi, and Siri Aas Rustad, Zed Books, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bowdoin-ebooks/detail.action?docID=688561.
This source gives a detailed account of insurgency and violence that has resulted from oil extraction in the Niger Delta, and is very useful to understand the tension and turmoil that has resulted in the region, on which Osodi bases much of his work.
Paoletti, Giulia. African Arts, vol. 42, no. 4, 2009, pp. 80–81. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20627029.
This exhibition review gives an analysis on another exhibition by Osodi on the Niger Delta. It provides background information on the artist and his attitudes towards the conflict in the Niger Delta region
Dewar, Bob. “Levelling the Playing Field.” The World Today, vol. 67, no. 1, 2011, pp. 7–8. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/41963042.
This article recounts the political climate of the 2011 Nigerian elections, relating them to the issues along the Niger Delta
“Oil Rich Niger Delta 2003-2007.” Photoshelter.com. Web. Accessed April 1, 2019.
https://georgeosodi.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000ns8MS37FfZU
This website includes ten galleries made my Samba, including the Oil Rich Niger Delta gallery to which this photo belongs.
