By Michael Gabriel
The act of painting is normally referred to as the application/introduction of colour to a surface like canvas, wall, board and human body with the aid of brush, pallet knife, among other tools. In general terms, the feet is basically meant for walking but not much attention has been given to it as a painting tool or vehicle for colour application. The feet furthermore, as a valuable and conceptual tool combined with symbolic and metaphorical content, the appropriation of feet as process and footprints as product in painting, holds promise of immense artistic possibilities. This studio project explored movement and footprints in agogo-agbaja dance as a creative resource in painting. The research aimed at problematising normative notions of painting and the conventional techniques at the disposal of the average painter. By appropriating the dance steps of the agogo-agbaja dance as a possible instrument for the orchestration colour painting, the research explored how spontaneity as well as accident and design can make for evocative and expressive visual experience. In addition to highlighting the viability of feet as an unconventional painting tool, the studio outcomes in its aesthetic richness, also highlighted how the footprints can function as a metaphor for narrating life experiences. Also explored is the twin and complementary rhythms of dance and music and how they can be captured in the after-dance footprints as frozen graphic register of the concluded dance activity