




































CHAPTER  13: 
SCIENCE OF SIGNS AND SYMBOLS: 

MATERIAL MANIPULATION, MEANING-

MAKING AND MEDIA ADVANCEMENT IN 

PAINTING 
 

Contributed by 

Ukwa, Job Nworie and Clifford E. Nwanna 

 

Introduction  
Symbolism in visual arts is a stylistic thought pattern that 

communicates meaning using symbols, signs, allegory and 

metaphors. It is a potent and richly endowed platform where visual 

elements are used to give connotative depth to a work of art, to 

subtly convey messages or to communicate ideas. Most times, the 

more strange the imageries or materials contextualized as visual 

metaphors, the more interesting, deepening and captivating the 

work becomes. This explains the level of influence symbolic 

images can exert since they become far from ordinary especially 

when they already have attached strong meanings. From ages and 

locations, human civilizations have witnessed the presentation of 

messages in visual emblematic pictographs and ideographs. These 

are evidenced by the discovered cave arts which have pictures or 

symbols that have a semblance to what they represent. There are 

also local symbolic forms from diverse cultural locations which 

appear in intricate, linear, two-dimensional abstract, geometric 

shapes drawn from rich traditional life like uli, ona, nsibidi among 

others in the Nigerian cultural landscape. Similarly, the illusion of 

three-dimensionality on flat surfaces has been created using 

factory-based paints in liquid or paste states in realistic 



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interpretations, all these are geared towards effective meaning-

making and resultant communication. Today, with advancements 

in all facets of human endeavours, pictorial depiction still holds a 

very strategic position, especially as an artist’s platform for 

communication. 

   Visual art presentations in symbolic pictorial visual 

languages are interpreted by the viewers to figure out the hidden 

meanings for communication to take place. This therefore means 

that the art components ranging from its composition, materials, 

colours, forms, lines, textures shapes, and objects have symbolic 

tendencies that foster meaning-making, thereby promoting 

understanding and advancement in communication. Adewumi and 

Faida (2017) opine that: 

 …Every artwork has a symbolic essence embedded 

in it. Some forms and motifs in artworks are random 

while some whereas a result of the deliberate effort 

of the artist to pass a coded message to an unintended 

observer. Signs and symbols are therefore, 

incorporated into artworks from the strokes of the 

brush on the canvases, to the gorge of the chisel on 

wood… 

This observation believes in the symbolic tendencies in the art of 

painting. A symbol is a signifier that stands in for the actual concept 

or idea (the signified). Adewumi and Fadia (2017:93) see it as 

“anything that is adapted to signify another thing or concept. They 

added that signs are often used as codes, while symbols expand the 

notions of signs…they are characterized by rich meanings...” 

Jerome (2008) clarifies further that symbols are anything that 

represents another by virtue of customary association due to a 

conceptual connection or perceived resemblance. Contextualizing 

the art of painting as a visual metaphor, Abodurin (2014:7) posits; 

Painting as an aspect of visual art, is one form of art 

which expresses messages, codifies them and allows 

the spectator or viewer to decode and interpret the 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

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hidden messages or its meaning. Therefore, painting 

is not only a tool of recording human history, but also 

a tool of conveying a wide range of stories, emotions, 

feelings, inner world symbolically or didactically or 

in a hidden mode. 

In line with the above view, it seems pertinent that for a holistic 

understanding of the intention of painting as a form of expression, 

the material signification should have contributory role in 

meaning-making. In other words, for painting to effectively deliver 

on its mandate of conveying a wide range of stories, abstract 

conceptions, offering deeper and wider meaning in artistic 

discourse, wider range of materials need to be manipulated and 

contextualized. In return, it is hoped that more creative room and 

ideological insights will be created if tangible local materials are 

deemed fitting and appropriated to offer their visual voices in 

addressing societal issues. 

  Nonetheless, available evidences have shown that though 

they have been indications of the practices of mixed media 

technique in painting by some painters, majority of these 

interpretable forms have been represented using conventional 

materials. Abokede (2021) in his research submits that through a 

search of related materials, practices, and extant literatures, the 

result show that only few known contemporary artists venture into 

the use of non-paint media (local materials inclusive). He added 

that, these non-paint media are far less expensive and introduce 

some new elements which are not possible with traditional paint 

media. Also expressing concern on the over concentration on oil 

colour by Nigerian painters from their research, Joshua and Onoja 

(2015:35) queried “…could it be that our institutions of art are not 

tailored towards postmodernist inclination”? The above concerns 

are raised to draw attention to the dynamics in painting which 

extends to its materiality. Envisioning the potentials and 

possibilities inherent in exploration and experimentations with 



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

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local non-conventional materials, they are interrogating the basis 

for this over-concentration despite its limitations, especially in the 

creativity of the painters. Oshinowo in Ikpakronyi (2017:79) 

explains that materiality forms the bedrock of many experiments 

embarked on by artists. He asserts that “experimentation generally 

is more on material exploration…because the joy of the artist is to 

discover a new approach. Sometimes, a new approach dictates even 

the theme of the artwork.” He recommends that an artist must 

experiment because an artist who does not experiment invites 

creative stagnation and professional oblivion. Corroborating this 

view, Cyril (2011:21) encourages the expansion of the stock of 

artistic media through the surveying of the environment when she 

asserts that “artists should expand their creative repertoire by 

experimenting with a vast array of unconventional surfaces, 

materials and tools as a way of pushing painting ground to take on 

a more active and visually expressive role in the cognitive 

interpretation of a work of art”. The scholar went further to counsel 

that artists just need to look around their environment and be open 

to what they see every day. 

It is on this background that this study considers that 

beyond the use of conventional factory-based materials, it is 

necessary to explore the local environment and experiment as it is 

perceived as one of the cheapest alternative routes to materiality 

expansion and a means of widening painters’ creativity. 

 

Aim of the Study 

This study is intentional in the manipulation of local materials such 

as wood chippings, shells, canwood pigments, woven cane trays, 

raffia hats, and baskets; adapting their symbolic tendencies, 

physical characteristics, and significances as direct metaphors in 

the creation of symbolic mixed media abstract expressions for 

meaning-making in painting.  

 

 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

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Literature Review 

Signs and symbols embedded in a work of art can be 

presented using tangible materials or found objects by exploiting 

the room given by mixed media techniques in visual arts. This 

could be more embracing if the objects paraded in the work have 

some perceived connection with the targeted audience. In some 

instances however, artists can present objects or manipulate 

materials to create forms which have overt physical linking 

features with a concept (the signified) and the audience can still 

unravel the intention of the artist even when the said objects have 

no cultural undertone or meaning linking with the audience. Found 

object inclusion in art composition began to take shape in 1912 

when Picasso made his cubist constructions from various 

scavenged materials, adding such things as matchboxes and 

newspapers. Dada and Surrealist artists then made extensive use 

of found objects (Stampington,2013). In recent times, found 

objects as visual vocabularies in art forms have continued to evolve 

and thrive among mixed-media artists… In a more advanced and 

conceptual manner, Imafidon (2015:8) gave a historical account of 

the influence and symbolic undertone in the materiality of 

European art at a time, when he explains, “In Europe in the 1960s, 

a group of Italian artists numbering about twelve staged an 

exhibition mostly sculpture pieces. The most distinctly 

recognizable trait of this group was their use of commonplace 

materials, such as earth, rocks, cloth, paper and rope. Their works 

marked a reaction against the modernist abstract painting that had 

dominated European art in the 1950s. This group was the most 

significant and influential avant-garde movement to emerge in 

Europe in the 1960s and this art movement was later referred to as 

Arte Povera–“poor art” or “impoverished art”. In agreement, 

Ditolla (n.d) emphasizes thus; 

 “Although Arte Povera is most notable for its use of 

materials, it however did not use these materials 



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exclusively on its own. Some of the group’s most 

memorable work comes from the contrast of 

unprocessed materials with references to the most 

recent consumer culture. They believe that 

modernity threatened to erase our sense of memory 

along with all signs of the past, the Arte Povera group 

sought to contrast the new and the old in order to 

complicate our sense of the effects of passing time.” 

Ditolla’s account explains that materials aligned in the 

exhibited works were used metaphorically as protest tools. Arte 

Povera’s interest in “poor”(ordinary) materials can be seen as 

related to Assemblage, an international trend of the 1950s and 

1960s that used similar materials. Both movements marked a 

reaction against much of the abstract paintings that dominated art 

in the period. They viewed it as too closely linked with emotion 

and individual expression, and too confined to the tradition of 

painting. Instead, they proposed an art that was much more 

interested in materials and physical realities and borrowed forms 

and materials from everyday life (Imafidon, 2015). The above 

views have all pointed to the fact that the symbolic contents of a 

work of art if properly decoded, make it valuable and it has the 

power to draw attention, engage, transform and create a better 

atmosphere for social living, hence art can be deployed as a tool 

for protest and activism. 

In the African context, Siegman (1980), observes that 

African art is principally symbolic rather than representational. It 

is more concerned with visualizing rather than with accurately 

representing nature. It is therefore safe to say that the materials of 

African art are to a large extent symbolic. This is because in Africa, 

in the very beginning, local materials adapted as art materials were 

conceived of as having inherent life of their own, hence they are 

used for rituals as mediators between humanity and divinity. 

Wood, clay, stone, feathers, shells and other mediums partake of 

the energies of nature before they are converted into works of art. 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

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This means that the life forces and life span of these materials when 

paraded as art forms, are extended even as artworks thereby 

provoking discourse and communicating with the audience as well 

as adding more to the stock of materials available for artists. 

Contextually, an artist’s wide knowledge and in-depth 

understanding of the implications and signification of local 

materials and their potential in communication when creatively 

aligned in a work of art in contemporary times will instil in him a 

greater zeal for their usage. 

Articulating the exploits and contributions of Nsukka Art 

School in materiality advancements, Onuzulike (2001) 

unequivocally submits that beyond the history and practice of uli 

emanating from the natural synthesis ideology of Zaria 

revolutionists, a good number of painting and sculpture students 

are slowly but steadily wading into the thick forest of 

conceptualization, exploration, experimentation and daring 

improvisation. He added that under the tutelage of Chike Aniakor 

(painting), Chijioke Onuora (painting and sculpture), Ernest Okoli 

(sculpture), Krydz Ikwuemesi (painting) and El Anatsui 

(Sculpture), there is beginning to emerge a ground-breaking 

understanding as regards the students approach to the “Exploration 

of indigenous Materials”, forms and idea courses. Agiotu-Kemmer 

and Adeleke in Onuzulike (2001) added that it is the down-to-earth 

search for new materials and fresh idioms that have been the 

hallmark of this new creative direction at Nsukka. These conscious 

and deliberate attempts in her creative ideology emphasize the 

exploration of the environment as a potent creative source of ideas, 

materials and forms since the 1970s. The school’s unrelenting 

efforts have resulted in the appropriation of culture-based art forms 

as viable creative resources. Lending his voice in agreement, 

Anatsui in Ene-Orji and Eseyin (2018:165) admits that returning to 

the ancestral roots “offers artists the opportunity to source for and 

use materials from their own environment other than the 



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conventional ones to execute their arts, by so doing they reflect 

their immediate environment and culture using local resources”.  

Among the Nigerian artists that have explored abstract 

expressionism in their use of symbolic local material in painting 

are Krydz Ikwuemesi in his Pot with Uli pattern, a symbolic 

painting on a traditional earthen clay pot, Stanley Eze’s Abstract 

and Conceptual, a painting on clay pots, Chukwuemeka Okpara’s 

African stories, an Uli painting with sand colour pigment on 

earthen pots. Jimoh Buraimoh and his use of the symbolic beads 

inspired by the traditional Yoruba’s beaded crown and Jacob Jari’s 

corn stalk mosaic; Nsikak Essien’s infusion of the local basket in 

his mixed media painting and Olu Oguibe’s National graffiti on 

local mat among others. 

 

Theoretical framework 

 In recognition of the significance of symbols in communication, 

Ofuafo (2013:396) explains: 

Communication is simply the sharing of 

meaningful ideas, thoughts and feelings 

(information) through a channel between persons. 

This could be applied in the form of interpersonal 

communication which is the most important factor 

that generated the emergence of symbols. This is 

so because people do not only communicate their 

thoughts, feelings or experiences to others but also 

to themselves, and this is usually done through 

symbols. Through communication, symbols could 

help to maintain order and coherence and this is 

achieved largely by the use of art objects… 

The above excerpt explains the position and importance of 

semiotics in meaning-making and communication. This study is, 

therefore, derivative of semiotic philosophical preachment in the 

use of signs and symbols in communication. Semiotics theory 

according to Ferreira (2007) is the study of signs and symbols, 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

219 

 

either individually or grouped in a sign system that can give more 

insight from the work source and meaning. He further explains that 

while symbolism is the use of signs to communicate, signs take the 

form of words, images, sounds, odours, flavours, acts or objects, 

but such things have no natural meaning and become signs only 

when we provide them with meanings. Signs and symbols and the 

tendencies for unravelling hidden messages are the major 

components of semiotic theory. This position, therefore, aligns 

with this paper’s approach in contextualizing forms, patterns or 

iconic imageries, that are generally accepted within a particular 

group, and the creation of forms with physical features that can 

enable viewers to decipher their inherent meanings. These patterns 

or emblematic visual codes have inherent physical interpretable 

features, especially in the context where they are being used. It is 

necessary to note that in some cases where these objects are used, 

and to have a deeper understanding of the symbolic forms, icons, 

colours, arrangements and the overall composition of pictures 

created in painting expressions, viewers are provided with further 

analysis through description and interpretation either during an 

open exhibition or in written texts as is the case of this paper. 

 

Generating symbolic forms through Manipulation, 

Deconstruction, Reconstruction and Arrangement of local 

materials  

The conscious efforts to bend materials to a form, compose 

to a pattern, and arrange found objects to connotative structures or 

shapes to resemble or be associated with an idea is referred to in 

the context of this paper as material manipulation. Also, the 

symbols generated in the studio work for this paper, appear in 

forms, colours, allegorical objects, and forms composed or 

constructed as inspired by geometric shapes and lines of Uli, Ona 

and Nsibidi motifs.  



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

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As apparatus for communication, some materials which 

have previously attached meaning by certain groups like cowrie 

shell, white chalk (nzu), and camwood pigment among others as 

presented by Ofuafo (2013) are aligned and metaphorically 

contextualized in this paper while some are abstract motifs which 

are generated by the artist through skillful re-construction of 

existing materials. In the studio exploration, such local materials 

like woven trays, jute fabric, baskets, raffia hats, hand fan cane 

trays, camwood, charcoal, shells, and wood chippings are explored 

and manipulated to create symbolic patterns and structures that can 

contribute to meaning-making.   

 

Production Stage: Ideation to work process 

 

 

 

 

                                            

 

 

 

 

 

Plate 1. Nsibidi Symbols 

Courtesy: zetaboards.com 

(2023). Nsibidi motif which 

stands for Congress was 

picked and amplified 
 

Plate 2. Selected hand-drawn 

symbols are often used in Ona 

and Ara painting. Courtesy: 

Adeyemi, 2012 in 

zetaboards.com (2023) 

 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

221 

 

+ symbolic motif that symbolizes body scarification was picked 

          

 

 

Plate 3. Design Inspiration through Uli, pen on ink, Courtesy 

Chukueggu C. C. (2003), Nku Di na Mba: Uche Okeke and Modern 

Nigerian Art in zetaboards.com 

 

Agwolagwo and Ntupo motifs derived from Uli symbols are used. 

 

Fig.1     Preliminary drawing for The Abuja conference derived and 

formed from a combination of Nsibidi, Ona and Uli motifs,  Photo by 

Ukwa, Job N. 



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

222 

 

Work Stage  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

Plate 4.   Transferring of 

sketch to the painting ground. 

Photo by Okechi Benard 

 

Plate 5.   Ukwa, Job N. 

Exploring the possibility of 

using gumming technique to 

fasten jute fabric on woven 

cane tray. Photo by Okechi 

Benard 

 

Plate 6.   Using the mixture of 

Acrylic gum and camwood as 

paint on the support. Photo by 

Okechi Benard 

 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

223 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                              

 

   

 

                                                                

 

 

                

                 

Plate 10.   Ukwa, Job N.  The Abuja Conference, 2021, mixed media, (Locally 

woven cane tray, shades of wood debris, flattened basket, red and yellow 

camwood, jute fabric), 72cm x 71 cm.   Photo by the artist 
 

Plate 7. Ukwa, Job N.  Painting 

of the adapted symbolic basket 

form to be fastened on the re-

contextualized support. Photo 

by Okechi Benard 

 

Plate 9.  Placement  and 

attachment of the 

deconstructed and painted 

symbolic basket form 

using Photo by Okechi 

Benard adhesive.  

 



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

224 

 

Discussion 

The Abuja conference is 72cm x 71 cm in measurement. It 

is a mixed-media painting that has art elements in full interaction. 

Such shapes like circles, rectangles, squares, thick and thin lines, a 

darkly painted foundational structure of basket using a charcoal 

pigment with its spread out strands, shades of brown, oranges, 

ochre and varied textures, all unified to announce the emergence of 

the work. The painting is asymmetrically balanced with the 

juxtaposing lines and a dark swirling flattened basket with its 

outstretched strands. It engaged the circularly shaped woven cane 

tray as its support. The composition is made up of interconnecting 

and overlapping patches of colours and varieties of lines, and 

shapes. The painted cut outs of flat jute fabric are in squares and 

rectangles which help in creating overlapping partitions. The 

colours are red and yellow camwood as well as white clay (nzu) 

and kaolin mixed with gum. The bold shape at the base tilting to 

the right,  is painted with a slightly tinted Ox blood with patches of 

dark red; a mixture gotten from red camwood (uhie), white clay 

(nzu), yellow camwood and gum on a jute fabric. To show contrast, 

the researcher creatively revealed and infused the natural network 

of the vertically and horizontally interwoven background of the 

cane tray. Also in this half are thin over lapping lines of different 

shades of earth colours like black directly on the woven 

background structure. 

Two styles of painting from two different backgrounds 

fused together to form this art piece. Inspiration from the Russian, 

Wassily Kandisky (1866-1944)’s non-objective geometric abstract 

painting style and the researcher’s mosaic and minimalist use of 

materials from his accustomed African environment as well the 

Nsibidi inspired spiral motif all collaborated to produce the mixed 

media painting. 

 

 



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The Abuja Conference: A symbolic interpretation of Security 

intervention  
Unlike the Berlin conference of 1885 which was a platform 

for partitioning and scrambling for Africa by the European powers 

and the USA, the Abuja conference was a programme strategically 

positioned to proffer solutions to insecurity in the educational 

sector in Nigeria.  The Abuja conference is an overview of an 

international virtual conference held in Abuja, the capital of 

Nigeria, targeted on saving schools from attacks, on October, 25-

27, 2021. In the socio-political context, the work is drawing the 

viewer’s attention as a reference point to, the Nigerian 

government’s hosting of an international conference on insecurity. 

Oliver Mawhinney, a policy and Advocacy Advisor to the 

International Parliamentary Network for Education, in his 2021 

report titled “Safe Schools Conference takes place in Abuja” gave 

an insight on the conference. He x-rayed that in her effort to address 

the crisis and incessant attack on Education in Nigeria, where more 

than 1,400 students have been abducted since December 2020, the 

government explored the option of calling for and virtually hosting 

the Fourth International Biennial Conference on the Safe Schools 

Declaration, the first in the African continent in collaboration with 

the government of other nations. This programme amidst other 

things, was to galvanize actions against attacks and abductions of 

children, parents and educators and to proffer lasting solutions to 

the growing out-of-school child population which before now were 

mostly localized to the northeast but has degenerated to many other 

parts of the country.  

Among the countries invited according to him, were 

Argentina, Norway, Spain, the African Union and representatives 

from UN member states and agencies, communities affected by 

conflict and civil society-including the International Parliamentary 

Network for Education. In the end, some far-reaching resolutions 

were reached which included collaboration across ministries, 



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

226 

 

building on alternative and distance learning programmes, 

including low-tech solutions as it were during the COVID-19 

pandemic and empowering and listening to children and 

communities among others.  

To analyze the structural visual elements in the composition 

and their communicative tendencies, the study takes it as an artist’s 

social responsibility, as a reviewer and an interpreter, to ruminate 

on the basic role of artworks in communication. He opted to 

holistically engage both the cultural imports of materials and as 

well the quest to advance materiality in arts. In The Abuja 

Conference, the painter assembled readily available materials 

within reach to metaphorically direct the viewer’s thoughts on the 

necessity of dialogues, cross carpeting and hybridity of ideas for a 

better living; a character synonymous with the family and 

communal town hall meetings in Igbo cultural space. It is a 

platform he consciously created to visually represent a group of 

people from diverse disciplines and backgrounds interacting, 

dialoging, weaving together ideas, sharing knowledge and 

experiences, disseminating information and proffering solutions. It 

seeks to bring into focus the concept of a collaborative effort for a 

common goal, the experiences, evolving cultural implications and 

the overall development among other things. The researcher’s use 

of different materials with connotative implications to cohesively 

form a whole especially (Nzu) White chalk and Nkata (Basket), 

explain this.  

The flattened basket with its spread-out strands is a motif 

inspired by the inorganic nsibidi motif and geometric shape. This 

form combines irregular shapes, spiral and straight lines. It is 

derived from woven baskets, cut-out gummed patterns from jute 

fabric and shades of wood particles and it stands for convergence, 

togetherness and unity in diversity. Considering the fact that 

abstraction or symbolism in art can reveal and conceal at the same 

time, creating a platform for multiple meanings, Nkata can also 

symbolically be interpreted as basket/conversation/technology in 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

227 

 

the context of entrepreneurial engagement for economic growth 

and as dialogue, conspiracy, evil plan, as well as technology today 

(nka taa) respectively. 

  Also, there are patterns from woven structures created from 

plaited backgrounds of cane trays and cut-out patterns of jute 

fabric. These overlapping patterns are adapted to metaphorically 

point to the concepts of interconnectivity, protection and mutual 

understanding a symbolic pattern that connotes security 

In The Abuja Conference, the translation of cultural 

relations is depicted through the interconnection of the design 

elements such as lines, textures, colours and shapes. It is meant to 

bring to the audience’s consciousness the need to imagine life 

beyond confinement but rather to enable fragmented parts to be 

part of a larger whole. This, the artist’s views will give enough 

room to live out lives with a considerable level of rapport instead 

of fear and to choose understanding (peace) in place of division. 

Nzu, one of the earth-appropriate pigments used in some of the 

partitions is recognized in the Igbo cosmology as a signifier of 

purity, peace, innocence and wisdom. Symbolically, the 

significance of Nzu comes into play here as the violated purity and 

innocence of the vulnerable school children is contextualized and 

interpreted. The needed wisdom on the handling of insecurity as 

can be offered through this platform is represented via the use of 

Nzu and the symbolic basket with stretched-out strands. The varied 

textures of the different partitions represents the diverse cultures of 

the world while the similarity of the materials and the connecting 

lines indicate that the emergence of technology (virtual 

presentation) has offered a common ground to make decision on 

the way forward in the contemporary society; an enabling 

environment to build an indivisible global community that is 

connected in the development of one another thereby ensuring the 

progress of humanity. The gloomy burnt sienna generated from the 

mixture of camwood and charcoal represent the sad tales of 



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

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abductions of young pupils in Nigerian schools, however, the rays 

of hope that the conference promises is represented by the red-

orange and light yellow colours of the camwood. 

  The work therefore is a pointer to the importance and 

metaphorical explanation to the outcomes of the conference. 

Among them includes investing in alternative learning 

programmes such as e-learning, collaboration among ministries, 

among other resolutions reached on the way forward for human and 

material. This in other words, reflects on the fact that globalization 

has been enabling the contemporary society to learn more about 

other cultures and the fact that the understanding of cultural 

evolution, relations and connections has proven to bring great and 

rapid development. The different colours, arrangements and sizes 

of rectangle and square shapes represent the typical visual or 

pictorial formats as seen in virtual screen presentations during e-

conferences. The spread out hands of the dark coloured basket and 

the multi colored wood chippings that congregate at the centre 

represents Africa’s openness, acceptance, magnanimous and 

collaborative spirit even in resource sharing with other continents 

for a better future for all though she has been exploited. 

While appreciating this collaborative effort, the questions 

still itching for answers are: From the series of attacks recorded so 

far on schools in Nigeria, have there been any arrests? If yes, who 

are they, who are the financiers or sponsors? Have there been trials, 

what were the penalties? If there are none, why? What has been the 

work of the security personnel? Has the security architecture of the 

country been compromised? Also elusive is that despite the 

intervention, the impact seems not to have been felt as there have 

been consistent reports of attacks even after the conference, almost 

on a daily basis. It seems to be suggesting that there are 

beneficiaries with serious strategic gang-ups in the dark who are 

determined to frustrate every effort no matter the extent of 

international collaborations. It, therefore, recommends that it is 



Science of Signs and Symbols: Material Manipulation, Meaning-Making… 

229 

 

only sincere and well-thought-out national strategic plans within 

the nation-states that are needed to address these internal problems. 

With the above excerpts, the researcher has demonstrated 

how the potential qualities of the physical features and tactile 

makings of local materials within the environment can be used as 

symbols and be maximized fully to connotatively drive home 

intended points. 

 

Conclusion and Recommendation 
Significantly, the ingenuity of the studio outcomes in this study has 

proven that within the local environment, there are a lot of 

potentials from materials that can be explored in the symbolic 

representation of ideas and concepts, hence contributing to 

materiality expansion. From the findings, some of these materials 

are presented in abstract visual forms which are the personal 

philosophies of the artist-researcher and their physical structures 

give the viewers insights or clues on the intended meaning(s) in the 

context where they are used. This means that though different 

social groups have their generally accepted codified signs and 

symbols which help them in communications, there are still some 

inherent characteristics in the formal physical structures of objects 

which can be created, adapted and metaphorically contextualized 

in painting and the audience can easily relate or have a clue to its 

in meaning-making. The study, therefore recommends that artists 

can creatively contextualize objects or materials that have physical 

features that can metaphorically provoke deep reflections on 

societal issues from the environment  

This research will equally open up another phase of enquiry 

into the relevance of exploiting and aligning certain symbolic 

materials with attached cultural myths and values to a painting 

discourse.  It equally draws the attention of the public to the 

conversion of waste to meaningful arts as a way of sanitizing the 

environment. It will also aid in awareness creation amongst 



Job Ukwa and Clifford Nwanna 

230 

 

painters that paint does not reside only in tubes and cannot only be 

applied with brushes, instead, there are other avenues that can be 

explored to achieve the same result. 

It has established that certain cultural heritages are 

embedded with a lot of underlying connotations which with active 

in-depth reflections, enquiring, and interpreting its historical 

connotations have the potential for further innovative tendencies 

for knowledge generation. For example the Ikpu isi ugwu passage 

rite of the Ikwo clan in Ebonyi state   

Finally, the study recommends that to ensure permanence 

and long-lasting bonding of the found objects on the support, a 

good quantity of glue, acrylic gum and wood dust mixture should 

be applied to hold hard materials to avoid falling off and for a better 

binder for camwood pigments, acrylic gum is recommended. 

 

 

REFERENCES 
Abokede, O.O.(2021).Use of Non-Paint Media by Artists In 

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