Obi Mbu (The Primordial House)
By Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd
Drawing on Igbo cosmology, Obi Mbu (The Primordial House), a photography series produced by Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd, depicts a narrative centered in the Primordial House, located in the Sirius star system, from which creation emerges. Eke-Nnechukwu, the Igbo high god, and Chukwu, Her masculine counterpart, exist in perfect unity in and as the Blackness of space. Although They are dual aspects of the Primordial Androgynous deity, Chukwu sections off a part of space exclusively for Himself in the form of a sacred pillared chamber in the heart of the Primordial House. He engages in a secret work by dancing in and out of this chamber, which sets off a chain of irrevocable circumstances that lead to our current world and condition. These images were produced through a technical combination of painting, engineering, and ultraviolet light.
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Title: Chukwu and Eke-Nnechukwu
In the primordial house, located in the Sirius constellation, from which creation emerges, Eke-Nnechukwu, the Igbo high god, and Chukwu, Her masculine counterpart, exist in perfect unity in and as the Blackness of space.
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Title: Chukwu and His Secret Chamber
Chukwu engages in the work of creation by dancing in and out of a sacred pillared chamber. His secrecy inspires curiosity in his feminine counterpart Eke-Nnechukwu.
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Title: The Decision of Eke-Nnechukwu
While spinning and weaving on her cosmic loom, Eke-Nnechukwu decides that she will risk the equanimity of the First World to uncover what Chukwu is doing inside the mystical chamber he has entered.
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Title: What Becomes of Death?
Eke-Nnechukwu’s entrance into the chamber was a major taboo which caused a massive explosion that simultaneously created the universe and martyred her. Chukwu cries tears of grief, a crucial moment of purification and healing.
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Title: The Separation
Dualistic forms come into the world, and the pure spiritual state of being is lost. Chukwu never fully recovers from the shattering of the primordial state. Disenchanted, He withdraws permanently from the world.
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