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Juliet Ezenwa Pearce
Born 30 July 1968 to Patrick and Veronica Nze in Ndokwa East local government area of Delta state, Nigeria. Her parents moved frequently from one duty post to another following the re-organization of the Civil Service after the Nigeria/Biafra war (1967 – 1970). Too young to accompany them everywhere, Juliet was left in the care of her grandmother, a traditional wall decorator knowledgeable about the ancient Uli art. Juliet was naturally fascinated by her grandma’s skilful and colourful dabbing on the walls in her compound. Drawn irresistibly to her sketches, Juliet took up painting herself, starting with watercolours, acrylic and then mixed media. She has never looked back; in her own words: “My art comes from a very happy place. I am as happy as a sand girl when I am creating art. Whenever I encounter challenges relating to both life and art, I simply take my lemons and make lemonade.”

Education and early years
Juliet had her secondary education at Government Girls College, Benin City. She then proceeded to Bendel State University, Abraka (now Delta State University), where she studied Fine Arts. A visit to Abraka in 1988, by Sam Ovraiti, the renowned watercolorist, would further deepen Juliet’s devotion to art. After graduating in 1990, she became his apprentice “understudying Ovraiti’s use of bright colours which is synonymous with the Auchi school.” There are also influences from Professor Ben Enwonwu and Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya. Juliet remained with Ovraiti until 2000, during which she held two consecutive solo exhibitions: Faces (1996), and Memories (1997). About this time, she also began the Nigeria Independence Day exhibitions and in 1998 attended the first Abuja Fine Arts Bazaar at the Abuja Council for Arts and Culture. In 2001, she partnered with the Rivers State Ministry for Youth and Social Development to run economic empowerment workshops for youths, which used art to advocate for social change. This resulted in a series of solo exhibitions between 2001 and 2005, notably The Maiden Dance, Lost Innocence, Moonlight Rhapsody, and Reflections, along with several group shows.

Later years
From those early hesitant steps taken, Juliet has matured into a full-fledged artist recognized as one of the country’s leading female artists, alongside Peju Layiwola, Ndidi Dike, Angela Isiuwe, and Odun Orimolade. A recurring theme in her work is the question of the rights of the girl child, including the scourge of Female Gender Mutilation, as can be seen in her exhibitions. One, titled Beyond (2018) at National Museum & Monuments, Onikan, Lagos elicited excited responses from critics. “Painted in different hues,” Michael Jimoh noted, “the Girl Child Rights Series portray young women, some in pairs, threes or fours with plaited hair or wearing a scarf and all of them looking to the future. There is no dismal look in any of them, perhaps because of the painter’s boundless optimism for young women in Nigeria in particular, or the world in general.” Of the same exhibition and on the same topic, writer and critic Uzor Maxim Uzoatu puts her on the same pedestal as acclaimed Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s brand of feminism on the tenets of bringing up the girl-child. “Teach her to reject likeability. Her job is not to make herself likeable, her job is to be her full self, a self that is honest and aware of the equal humanity of other people.” In Uzoatu’s reckoning, “Juliet is unapologetically feminist,” insisting that she transcends “the worn narrative of training females to aspire towards becoming only good wives. It is incumbent on women to make marks on their own instead of just being attachments to men in the course of accomplishments. It aids complementary humanity for women to be involved in the decision-making process on issues affecting the entire community.” Juliet’s style has also generated positive commentaries from art historians claiming that, since 2005, she has been experimenting with mixed media methods using mirror and found objects resulting in what she has dubbed pantograph. Her 2011 solo exhibition, for instance, in Portsmouth in the U.K. was a collection of pantograph plates and prints described as both modern and contemporary. Her works have also been featured in Jess Castellote’s Contemporary Nigerian Art in Nigerian Private Collections, as well as used to illustrate Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa and Other Essays and A Mask Dancing, both by her writer spouse Adewale Maja-Pearce. She has also edited two books: Issues in Contemporary Nigerian Art 2000-2010 (First Series, 2015), and Issues in Contemporary Nigerian Art (Second Series, 2019), both published by The New Gong. On misogyny Her role in misogyny, on male stereotypes of women is equally legendary. In one lengthy interview with Tajudeed Sowole, the artist had this to say. “The role of women in society is now more sophisticated. It seems as if, for all the freedoms this century has offered, society demands full payment in compensation. Single, stay-at-home moms are no longer acceptable. Non-professional women are frowned upon and termed lazy. The average woman is expected to be a perfect mother, an excellent wife, a caring and polite in-law, a successful professional, a good marketer and a PR expert. A slight flaw in any of these roles and the criticism comes pouring in. Society expects the modern woman to be a superhero and will punish her mercilessly if she falls short. In short, women are set up to fail. “In many respects, mothers do indeed wield a strong influence on their child’s first impressions of the world. But she is a person with a history and with flaws, just like everyone else. The case is made worse if she is underage, a child herself with a child. So powerful are mothers - or their absence – that they are blamed when the child turns out bad. So powerful is this influence deemed that it requires a great deal of regulation and control (especially where it affects power and authority in royalty), so much so that it becomes punitive, including gender-targeted taboos and restrictions. “Misogyny has everything to do with alerting us to codes of practice that legitimize the systemic humiliation of women. Evidence of misogynistic acts is often invisible, ignored or covered up by both the powers that be and the victims. The problem with misogyny is that people don’t think it should be taken seriously. Men assume that women want to satisfy their own needs without thinking about what women want. Uninformed women are the ventriloquist’s dummies of patriarchy, being the mouthpiece or protagonist of the patriarchy which colludes in oppressing their sisters. This is most evident in harmful cultural mores, notably FGM, gender–-shaming, gender discrimination and harmful widowhood practices.” Membership in professional associations Outspoken about human rights issues, especially as it affects the girl child, Juliet is an executive member of Echoes of Women in Africa and a regular participant at the UN-sponsored art exhibition on FGM. She is a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, the Female Artists’ Association of Nigeria, Business and Professional Women International, the Art Gallery Owners’ Association of Nigeria (organizers of Art-Expo Nigeria) and the Guild of Professional Fine Artists of Nigeria. Personal life Juliet Ezenwa Pearce is married to the celebrated essayist and critic, Adewale Maja-Pearce. They live in a one-story building which Juliet has transformed into an attractive garden in a quiet neighborhood in Surulere, Lagos.

AUCTIONS
Nov. 2008 Art Auction (Modern & Contemporary) Art House Contemporary Lagos. The Civic Centre, Lagos

April 2009 Art Auction, Art House Contemporary Lagos The Civic Centre, Lagos

November 2012 Modern and Contemporary Art Auction, Art House Contemporary Lagos

April 22 2015 Transcending Boundaries, African art exhibition, London, UK Organisers- Aabru Art London UK

Oct. 15 2015 Africa Now: Contemporary Africa Art Bonhams Auction London, UK

Nov. 2015 Art House Contemporary Modern and contemporary Art auction Lagos, Nigeria. May. 2016 Affordable Art Auction Art House Contemporary Lagos, Nigeria. Nov. 2017 Art House Contemporary Modern and contemporary Art auction Lagos, Nigeria

March. 2018 Art House Contemporary Affordable Art Auction Art Auction Lagos, Nigeria. Nov. 2018 Art House Contemporary Modern and contemporary Art Auction Lagos, Nigeria.

Feb. 2019 Affordable Art auction Art House Contemporary Lagos, Nigeria. https://art.state.gov/personnel/juliet_ezenwa