Impressions & Expressions on Canvas

The hungry groundnut seller

Oil on canvas. A poor, young girl eats her own goods despondently. This painting has an impressionistic colour scheme with its predominant blue reflecting the forlorn mood of the subject. A sadness with a hint of hopelessness. The child’s eyes say it all as she holds her cut slipper tight under one arm. In stark contrast, she casts a blood red shadow in the background, drawing attention to the sad blue and hinting at a once energetic juvenile energy- one burning with passion/hope, bursting with life- now gone. Ibrahim’s fiery shadow strokes are clearly deliberate as they pass across a message of past and present. Of opposites.

Fishermen sorting out their catch

Oil on canvas. There is something about Ibrahim’s Renaissance-style approach to human characters that defines him. Like the masters Michelangelo and Da Vinci, anatomy plays a major part in his naturalistic depictions as well as colour. Here we see two fishermen sorting out their catch for the day. It doesn’t look like much but they work hard at it. In the background, we see community huts and secured canoes along the twilight shore.

The game hunters

Oil on canvas. Six hunters in the savannah with their hounds, hook sticks, and dane guns preparing for a massive hunt at dawn. A rocky hill looms in the background.

The dye pits of Kano

Oil on canvas. The indigo dye pits of Kofar Mata, Kano, founded in 1498, attracted travellers and traders from across the vast Sahel region to the Kano emirate, helping to make the city one of the most prosperous in West Africa at the time. It is said to be one of the last of its kind after five centuries of existence. Craftsmen in this painting work hard in the Harmattan haze.

Cityscape from Above

Oil on canvas. An abstract painting by Ibrahim. Can you see the city structures? The flickering white line streaking across the base? Well, that’s an expression of the city’s pulse while the monochromatic nature of the painting encapsulates the hustle, the bustle, the noise, the pollution, the streets…. all a blur of blue in various shades. So what does the splash of yellow at the top and orange haze at bottom right represent? Can anyone hazard a guess?