MOVEMENT FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE NIGER DELTA (MEND), 2010-2011

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Patrolling the Bonny River #4
oil on canvas
90 x 72 inches

Patrolling the Bonny River #3
oil on linen
76 x 99 inches



Patrolling the Bonny River #1
oil on linen
100 x 119 inches


Patrolling the Bonny River #2
oil on linen
72 x 90 inches



MEND Combatant #1
oil on linen
66 x 54 inches



MEND Combatant #2
oil on linen
58 x 58 inches



MEND Combatant #3
oil on canvas
68 x 54 inches

MEND is an organization composed of diverse socio-economic groups who are seeking to seize control of the Niger Delta's vast oil resources. Their objective is to re-distribute oil wealth to benefit the region's neglected communities.

Over the last half century international oil conglomerates have carelessly been extracting the region's vast oil reserves, and in the process, have created an economic and environmental disaster in the Delta. Nigeria is the world's 8th largest oil producer, yet the people of the region have not benefited from the land's most valuable resource.

The Delta is Africa's largest oil producer. It is a region of 30 million people speaking 200 languages representing 40 ethnic groups. MEND's primary tactics have included the destruction of oil installations, kidnapping of foreign workers, and the disruption of maritime oil related commerce along the Bonny river.

In retaliation, government forces have launched a campaign against MEND's supporters which includes the burning of entire villages and the expulsion of the inhabitants. Rivers and land are polluted by oil spills. Soot pours into the air day and night as a result of the constant burning of flares and the dumping of gas by- products across the Delta.

For companies like Shell Oil, the Niger Delta has been a source of plentiful and very cheap oil for the last 50 years. For the communities of the Delta it has been "The Curse of the Black Gold."