Executed in two continents over four years, “Spiritual Purifiers” figuratively depicts this world’s systems of government as a king whose ignorance of the purpose of his power and authority renders him utterly blind to the inestimable and imperishable worth of his domain. Consequently, he debases himself to a vagabond despot, a restless wonderer, a perennial complainer, a selfish buffoon and an irresponsible potentate severely plagued with the jaundice of impatience, the cancer of covetousness, the gall of greed and the bile of ignorance.

The cow dung close to the mouth of the lugubriously depicted king alludes to this world’s loss of unity fundamentally steered by the cancerous words of fear incubated, maturated and professed by a hoard of leaders from particularly the world of religion and politics in order to prolong their visionless reigns while perennially propagating a myopic sense of patriotism, national security, identity, authority and freedom steeped in geographical, religious, tribal, racial, political and ancestral linkages.

By disfiguring and arranging various elements of the composition in a burlesque manner, most notably the African drum, a Roman spear, and the face clad in tree twigs representing this earth’s continents, the artist’s intention is to portray how the lack of identity births the misconception of freedom and the dearth of leadership, leading to infighting, strife and divisions based on race, religion, gender and ethnicity.

Despite the harrowing mood, intensified by the scattered ashes and severed body parts strewn around the canvas that conjure up abominable memories of pagan worship, human trafficking, religious, voodoo ceremonies and ancestral worship, “Spiritual Purifiers” is an important reminder that Man was created to reign and have dominion. But, when he is ignorant of his royal lineage and true identity as a “son of God” hence an ambassador, priest and king on earth, his divine inheritance granted by his redemption becomes a religious cliché. And as the strewn body parts depict, a carnal lifestyle of worshipping his own body and other humans he deems “important” now becomes his existence and impotent philosophies, ideologies and theologies from disparate religions, vile educational systems, dishonorable political leaders and influencers from different fields continue to be the source of his concepts of identity, authority, vision and purpose.