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Abstract
This paper explores visual imagery based on gestural expressions and body postures serving as non-verbal language forms in Nigerian society. It engages figurative art from the graphological, social and political perspectives. By analyzing selected traditional and modern art works, the gestures of intimacy, condolence, supplication, tyranny, war, captivity and even beauty are identified. It is possible therefore to reconstruct valuable humanistic currents through the study of artefacts, thereby providing artists, historians, culture enthusiasts and other contemporary observers with material that would further enrich social levels of communication.
Introduction
The cultural cumulative that constitute the plural ethnicities of Nigeria is imbued with rich modes of social intercourse expressed in the traditional performance arts, music, religious dance rituals, visual arts, oral lore, non-verbal body language (implying an absence of speech), and in the values of the peoples' spiritual pedigree. This paper identifies visual explorations and interpretations of the quality of body communication tangibly demonstrated in Nigerian art. Body communication refers to the exchange of information and meaning through facial expressions, gestures and movement of the body'.1 These expressions are expectedly determined by cultural factors influencing the exact natural body postures assumed and the contexts in which they are 'deemed appropriate' (Giddens, 1997:71). Gesture describes the outward expression of emotions and attitudes, either spontaneously or well thought out, especially when determined by standardized cultural parameters. Posture is the position the body assumes for a specified goal.
As a result of ongoing human interactions, gesture and body postures acquire symbolic meaning that are mostly shared by people who belong to the same culture (Calhoun et al, 1997:81). It is possible though that these idioms could be shared by people who do not necessarily belong to the same culture. As will be understood later in the paper, art does break barriers and merge belief system in a metaphysical framework.
The role of symbolism in this context can be understood as the visible sign of an invisible quality, which bestows meaning to the intangible but acceptable codes of action in society. For the effective understanding of this paper the words gesture and posture shall be used interchangeably to define the visual configurations of certain human aspirations encapsulated in the artefacts under study.2 While attempting to extrapolate their gestural worthiness,...