Sunday 31 March 2013

From the myth of suspicion, Opara projects Emissaries of an Iconic Religion


By Tajudeen Sowole
 Confined to history by the popularity of other faiths, traditional African religions widely perceived in dark or evil content may not be exactly inaccessible, so suggests a photographer, Adolphus Opara’s adventure into the den of worshipers of Yoruba deities.

Currently on display at Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos as portraits exhibition, and supported by the British Council, London, the body of work titled Emissaries of an Iconic Religion, according to the organisers, marks the first major solo exhibition of Opara in Nigeria.
Orisa Imole (deity and Judgment) Chief Aderemi Awogbemi.
It should be recalled that two years ago, the photographer showed few portraits of worshipers from the Yoruba traditional religion during a group exhibition Contested Terrains, which featured works of Kalder Attia, Sammy Baloji and Michael ManGary at Level 2 Gallery, Tate Modern, U.K and at CCA, last year.

The curator of Emissaries of an Iconic Religion, Jude Anoqwih noted that though “God and religion generate heated debate among Nigerians, Opara’s work offers opportunity to share diverse views, particularly about Yoruba traditional religion.”

The debate over religious tolerance, which Opara’s work may generate, is as complex as distilling culture from traditional African religions. Culture Scholars and theologians may keep drawing or erasing the lines between religion and culture, but education about a people’s history, which the exhibition focuses, is perhaps paramount in picking or discarding certain ancestral elements. 

Aside seeing depiction of traditional Yoruba religion worships in shoestring-budget dramas on TV and movies, perhaps, one of the photographic projects about the adherents, in recent times that got so close came from a Berlin-based Nigerian photographer, Akinbiyi Akinbode. Although Akinbode captured his images from the community of Orisa worshipers in Brazil, the portraiture characteristic appears like the commonality with Opara’s works.

However, Opara’s Emissaries of an Iconic Religion brings the paraphernalia of the adherents’ worship into public space, in images, glossed with pride. Given the myth or reality of fear built around traditional African worships, generally, the images appeared like costumed and modeled portraiture. “No, these are the real people”, he stated. And there was a relationship established between the photographers and the people, not just about looking for some dying cultures. “I spent quite some time with them, through a friend, Wale,” he disclosed. It took him two years of “traveling to and fro Osun State when Wale shared some knowledge about the  traditional Yoruba worship with me”.

Presented in aristocratic-like portrait framing, some the works include Orisa Imole (deity and Judgment) with a young man, Chief Aderemi Awogbemi who is pictured with several shrine items; Orisa Odu (diety of Blessings and Protection) pictured with Olakunle Falowo Ololade; and Orisa Lajoomi (deity of children) seen with Mrs Ogunremi Lekun.

The director of CCA, Bisi Silva described Opara’s works as engaging “the sensitive debate surrounding the demonisation and denigration of traditional religion instigated by colonial and missionary rhetoric”. And quite of note, is the that, for the wrong reasons, intolerance has crept into religious practices culminating in divisive error. Silva argued that the “issues of power and representation are at the fore of present tensions and civil unrest between what is characterised locally as the Muslim north and the Christian south.”

For the photographer, he had always been suspicious of the traditional African religion. And photographing the activities, he recalled, “at this level is confrontational.” Between promoting “idolatory and educating people about African religious background” lies the dilemma. Opara however argued that “knowing where we were coming from would keep us focus and produce better leadership.”
Adolphus Opara

CCA traced the exhibition to the centre’s five-year old commitment in the “promotion of lens-based media.” Some of the previous shows in the context of identity via photography included that of Nigerians artists such as George Osodi, Lucy Azubuike, Mudi Yahaya, Jide Alakija, Victor Ehikamenor and J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere as well as foreign artists  Zanele Muholi and Pinar Yolacan.

The centre noted how the visibility of photography in Nigeria “has grown exponentially over the past five years through the initiatives of many photographers and organisations who have carried out workshops, talks and exhibitions.” The yearly Lagos PhotoFestival organised by The African Artists Foundation (AAF) was cited as one such activities.

Opara, b.1981, in Imo State  has exhibited in group shows such as African Lace, 2010, Museum fur Vulkerkunde, Vienna, Austria and National Musuem, Onikan, Lagos; African Photography Encounters, 2011, Bamako, Mali; The Tie That Binds Us, 2012, Tiwani Contemporary, London among others.

'Circus of Encounter' against Niger Delta stereotypes


 BY TAJUDEEN SOWOLE
As a picture is said to worth a thousand word, a group of photographers known as f/stopCollective is set to prove that there are better stories to tell of the Niger Delta than militancy and oil spillage.

From some of the Niger Delta cities, the photographers Perez Tigidam (Port Harcourt), Ebiware Okiy (Benin), Israel Ophori (Ugeli), Tuoyo Omagba (Asaba) and Timipre Willis Amah (Yenagoa) will on Saturday March 23 to April 6, at Quintessence Gallery, Falomo, Lagos exhibit exotic photographs under the theme, Circus of Encounter.
Wonders of Niger Delta from Nchaka FestivalOmoke, Rivers State. 

Some of the images to be on display, include across actual representational scenes taken at festival, landscapes and conceptual or composite images, from which members of f/stopCollective explores the cultural values of the troubled region. The aim, they state, is to drawing the world’s attention away from oil and focus on creativity as well as tourism.

Digging into myth, Tigidam brings the aquatic legendary creature, Mamiwater – a local version of Mermaid  – into contemporaneity. It’s a photo composite that places a costumed-model against painterly skyline. Titled Mamiwater Monolugue Study 1, the picture could have been a pullout from any travel and tour magazine for A-list destinations of exotic islands anywhere in the world. From a low angle shot, Tigidam’s capture of Mamiwater on a boat sailing over water that bounces light into space for a convergence of reflection between the blue sky and the lady’s white costume, indicates that indeed, there are still some parts of the region not yet violated by oil explorations.

In the festival-related images, works such as Omoke Dancers, acrobatic and highly costumed displays; Omunguaru, King Koko Festival, Nembe, a boat regatta; Masqurade Dance from the Creeks, Gbaramatu; and a procession for traditional rulers in Benin by Okiy stress the people’s rich cultural value, even in the diversity of languages and other challenges. 

Perhaps, some of the most fascinating photographs of landscapes and skylines from the Niger Delta, in recent times, come from the camera of Amah. He, however, laments that “unfortunately, the Niger Delta is only known for militancy”. To change the perception, even among the people, the theme of the exhibition, he explains “is therefore based on the beauty of the people, their culture and natural environment”.

And despite the environmental degradation caused by oil exploration, Ophori argues that there are still quite a number of places with their natural features. “We still have beautiful environment in places like Bonny Island, Agbar Otor and others, which we hope to showcase to the world.”

Aside the natural ambience of the environment, which the f/stopsCollective projects, there are the abundance of human resources, particularly in the creative areas such as performances. This much is captured in Wonders of Niger Delta, from Nchaka Festival (Omoke, Rivers State), in a display of perceptive illusion by a young man who seems to have passed a bar through his mouth.
  For a region known to have produced some of the creative minds in Nigeria across arts and culture genres, Amah states the gathering of f/stopsCollective “is to remind the people about the beauty of the land as en extension of the contribution of others like Late Rex Lawson and Ken Saro Wiwa and Kelechi Amadi Obi to creativity in the land”. 

The choice of art, he adds, was crucial as “art allows the freedom of diversity and difference to find form and purpose in the contradiction and complexities of human existence.” The ultimate goal, he adds, is to build a new Niger Delta, via the arts “that can withstand the challenges of the future.”

Saturday 30 March 2013

National theatre occupants given ‘temporary relocation, not quit notice’


Following the anxiety over news of quit notices given government agencies and private individuals as well as non-governmental organisations located at a section of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, an official statement appears to have made some clarifications.
National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos
According to Dr Taiwo Oladokun, SA on Media and Publicity to the Hon Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, there are plans by the Federal Government to develop the National Theatre area through what he described as “world class entertainment and recreational facilities”.

He noted that the plans predate the current administration. Affected, according to sources are the National Council for Arts and Culture building (NCAC), National Gallery of Art (NGA)’s Aina Onabolu building, Universal Studios of Artists, the good old Abe Igi (Under the tree sheds) and the entire annex of National Theatre.

While the government agencies such as NCAC and NGA, according to some sources have been served the notices, the non- government occupants were yet to receive any formal notice.  


Oladokun explained the position of government: “Convinced by the merits of the plans and the benefits to be derived by all Nigerians, the Federal Government set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee including the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Ministry of Lands and Housing, Ministry of  Works, Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, Surveyor-General of the Federation and the Lagos State Government.

“This committee met for several months and developed for the President, a proposal, based on the original master plan of the National Theatre, which the President  approved.   Approval was also obtained  from the President for work to commence on the site through a Public- Private-Partnership arrangement.

“Consequently, the Minister held a meeting with Heads of Agencies and other organizations operating around the National Theatre  and briefed them on details of the project and  the need to vacate the location temporarily for the planned development to take place. 

"For the avoidance of doubt therefore, what was  given to the organizations concerned was not a quit notice but a simple directive to embark on temporary relocation, consequent upon previous communication, pending the completion of the project as they will all be accommodated eventually in line with the masterplan  which Government is determined to implement.

"The envisaged transformation of the National Theatre area is in the interest of all stakeholders. And this requires the support of all.”


In 2007, culture professionals from different associations under a hurriedly formed group converged as Coalition of Nigerian Artists (CONA), and protested the Bureau of Public Enterprise's (BPE) concession of the National Theatre.




Double for art patron, Shyllon

It was a celebration of art appreciation and creativity on Wednesday at Freedom Park, Lagos Island, when one of Africa's topmost collectors, Prince Yemisi Shyllon presented a book on veteran carver, Late Lamidi Fakeye and donated 18 sculptural pieces to the public facility.
Royal fathers, Chief Ernest Shonekan and Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relationship, Mr Disun Holloway represented Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola

The book, Conversations With Lamidi Fakeye, and in coffee table format is co-authored by Dr Ohioma Pogoson.

Fakeye who is regarded as 'Africa's leading carver' died in 2009 after over 60 years career, which included being a resource person at universities in the U.S.

The sculptural works donated are largely representational life sizes by Adeola Balogun, Patrick Agose and Jagun.

Speaking on what led to the book, Shyllon said it was the last of his three promises to Fakeye. "I promised Lamidi Fakeye when he was alive that I will promote him in Lagos by exhibiting his work, be the largest collector of his work and publish a book on him".

Friday 29 March 2013

Art from West Africa... loud in Dubai

By Tajudeen Sowole (just back from Dubai, UAE)

As art gets stronger, contributing to economic and cultural development across the world, Africa has presented its case of prospective dynamics to a global audience at the just concluded Art Dubai Fair, in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The rare opportunity came via two platforms of the fair: a curated section tagged Marker and the yearly seven-day discussion part, Global Art Forum, held at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. While Marker showed that the fast rising contemporaneity of art has not left the continent behind, the various segments of the art forum focused art education in the Middle East, art appreciation and documentation in Africa, scoring music as art content, among other areas discussed.

  Writer, Tolu Ogunlesi and sound artist Ogboh joined the curator of Marker, Bisi Silva at the Day 6 of the Global Art Forum, which focused Lagos as a mega city that is re-shaping art contents of artists in the city. At the non-African audience-dominated forum, Silva gave an overview of Lagos as a city of paradox, despite its chaotic and fast pace characteristics, people across the country come to search for fortune. She however noted that the city is being misrepresented in the international media.

 

 Ade Adekola's  photographi composiye..

On the role of art in Lagos’ race towards one of the biggest economic capitals of the world, Ogunlesi described “the 1980s through 1990s as the dark periods,” and post-military era, from 1999 till date as “the renaissance of Nigerian art”. Ogunlesi supported his assertion by recalling how “some Nigerian artists went into self-exile during the military eras.” However, it’s not exactly true that the 1980s and 1990s were the dark periods for Nigerian art. In fact, these periods – aside the fact that some Nigerian artists exodus into self-exiles during the June 12 crisis from 1993 – were the most significants in the history of full time studio practice and art appreciation in the country. Generation of artists such as Olu Ajayi, Sam Ovraiti, Abiodun Olaku, Bunmi Babatunde, Osazuwa Osagie, Gbenga Offo, Abraham Oyovbisere, Edosa Ogiugo, Ini Brown, Lekan Onobanjo and others lifted art as a full time profession from the mid 1980s through the early and mid-1990s. More importantly, art appreciation, particularly in Lagos rose sharply during these periods. It could also be argued that 1980s/1990s laid the foundation for the current unprecedented rise in value of Nigerian art.     

For Ogboh, who disclosed that he came to Lagos “six years ago”, the noisy bus parks and bus stops has been attracting his artistic curiosity. He has presented quite some works on Lagos noise at exhibitions home and the Diaspora, sometimes working with foreign artists.

 At another segment of the Global Art Forum, the growing art appreciation in Africa was the focus of one of the guest speakers and popular art collector in Africa, Prince Yemisi Shyllon. It was the second day of the Global Art Forum when Shyllon, addressing an audience of largely non-Africans, gave a panoramic view of the dynamics of Nigerian art and Africa in general.

In his response to a question from the audience about the future of African art, perhaps the prospect of becoming the next stop after the current boon of Chinese art market. Shyllon stated that it is not impossible “for African art to achieve what the Chinese art is enjoying in the west”. He argued that with the value of contemporary African art rising, both at home and the Diaspora, courtesy of art auctions in Lagos, it may not take long for the art of the continent to reach the global art market. “With the art auctions organized by ArtHouse Conmtenporary and Terra Kulture, in Lagos it is possible for the global art market to notice us”, Shyllon stated. Indeed, the gains of starting at home have started emerging: in London, U.K; Bonhams, a London-based auction house has since 2009 - a year after two successful auctions raised the value of Nigerian art in Lagos - dedicated an auction tagged Africa Now to art of the continent. Works of masters and young artists from across Africa are featured at the Bonhams’ auctions.

And given the fact that the home market has been setting the pace, Shyllon used the Global Art Forum to advise African artists in the Diaspora to ensure that their works are known at home. “Our artists abroad must be careful; they should be known here first for foreigners outside the continent to accept them.” He cited the example of El Anatsui, noting that he is based in Nigeria “and mastered his art in the country before he was known abroad”. 

Shyllon also recalled how he advised the Late Lamidi Fakeye (1928-2009) to concentrate more at home. Fakeye must have taken the advice of Shyllon; the carver’s only solo art exhibition ever in a gallery, titled Timber’s Titan, was held at Mydrim Gallery, Lagos, a year before his death. And as an extension of his love for Fakeye’s work, Shyllon disclosed to the audience that, “a book on Fakeye will be formally presented in Lagos before the end of this month.”

When exactly has government come into the up lifting of African art? The moderator of the segment of the forum, U.K-based art advisor, Bomi Odotunde advised that artists and promoters should look towards the private sector. “Even in England, it’s the private sector that promotes art” Odotunde argued.

As prospective as African art appears to be heading towards the global art market, scholarly input, it has been observed, is still not complementary. This much was again raised at the Global Art Forum by a veteran commentator on African art, Rasheed Araeen of U.K-based art journal, Third Text. Araeen cited the example of late artist, Uzo Egonu. He noted that the late artist’s work has little or no scholarly work done on it. Araeen lamented that as much as Nigeria has quite a pool of scholars, home and abroad, publications on African art is still inadequate.

Speaking from the audience, another prominent Nigerian collector, Sammy Olagbaju urged artists to concentrate more on producing art and leave documentation worries to the historians and others. Olagbaju argued that if saddled with writing about their works, artists could be distracted from studio.

 Curator of Marker, Bisi Silva speaking at a press preview shortly before Art Dubai Fair 2013 opened

But curator of Marker, Silva agreed with Areen on inadequate scholarly input. “Apart from Olu Oguibe’s piece on Egonu, no one has written about the artist’s work,” Silva stressed. She however added that things are really changing currently, “we are now documenting our artists”.

 Silva was right about the changing attitude of art historians. Indeed with recent developments in Lagos, for example, where four or more books on art were published in the last two years, the documentation landscape is appearing greener. In the last three years and in quick succession, a U.S.-based art historian, Sylvester Ogbechi has authored Ben Enwonwu: the Making of an African Modernist, published in 2009 and edited Making History: The Femi Akinsanya African Art Collection.

Also, last year, a book Contemporary Nigerian Art in Lagos Private Collections, edited by a Spaniard expatriate based in Lagos Jess Castellote, and sponsored by Olagbaju was presented to the public.

The UAE, and perhaps the entire Arab world seemed to have realised the huge prospects in art, so suggests the first section of the Day 6 of the Global Art Forum tagged New Directions: Art Education in the Middle East. Speakers included Alia Al Senusi, a London-based art patron, who is on the board of Tate Gallery; Mrna Avad, editor of Canvas Daily and Art Dubai publications; Stephen Bedge, director of student Enterprise and Hospitability at the University of the Art, London; Dana Farouk, independent curator and a trustee of MoMA; and Soheila Sokwhanvari, a London-based artist of Iranian origin. One of the several areas of challenges addressed was the rising cost of art education. Government’s continued funding of art education across the gulf may not be sustained for long, some of the participants feared. One of them warned that if quality art education should be sustained, perhaps, the people would have to pay a little. He cited example of some parts of the U.K., where “fees are now introduced into art schools; it’s not for commercial purpose for the schools, but to sustain the art education system”.

Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, Nigeria; Espace doual'art, Douala, Cameroon; Maison Carpe Diem, Ségou, Mali; Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana; and Raw Material Company, Dakar, Senegal were the five spaces that represented what could be described as face of West Africa, perhaps by extension the entire region at Art Dubai 2013. Artists whose works were exhibited include Ablade Glover, Ndidi Dike, Soly Cisse, Taye Idahor, Emeka Ogboh, Ade Adekola, Charles Okereke, Karo Akpokien, Abubakar Fofana Abdoulaye Konate and Boris Nzebo. But the distinct line of identity, which African art is known for appears to be blurring, so suggest some of the works on display across the five representatives.

A tour of the five stands showed that as much as some of the artists attempt to create works that represent the central theme, City in Transition, the African flavor struggles against the dominance of western textures. The artists, sub-consciously, have imbibed the western influence. For examples, from Soly Cisse’s variety of impressionistic depiction of rat characters in metaphoric context, to Boris Nzebo’s drawings, African identity was faintly noticed. And rescuing the near loss of African aesthetic identity, were CCA, Lagos, Idahor’s Head Series, Dike’s collage, Lagos Market, Glover’s rooftop of slums courtesy of Nubuke Foundation, Accra as well as Fofana’s textile piece from .

And quite innovative was Ogboh’s sound installation of archival origin, which brings into memory the voices of two of Nigeria’s former Head of States, Nnamidi Azikiwe and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the African identity was strengthened at Marker.

From the Raw Material Company's stand, Henri Sagna’s sculptural relief about faith exudes simplicity of aesthetics.

Ade Adekola’s photographic assemblage of animated effect captures recycling of waste engine fuel by youths in Lagos.

With Marker, Africa, indeed, has announced its presence on the contemporary global art stage. The gathering of these diverse artists from West Africa, working on such a theme as City in Transition, stressed the importance of changes across some of the countries’ big cities. And that some of the artists’ works are infected with the changes – not necessarily because the theme confines their visual narratives – showed the cultural or identity-loss as the prize to pay for changes in the city.

Silva noted the significance of the theme, drawing similarity between the host city, Dubai “as a city in transition”. He however argued that “Africa can learn from Dubai” in the transitory context.

While the Marker section of Art Dubai 2013 may have presented the diversity of the artists, it could also be seen as another kind of art from West Africa; a shift from the regular. Over the last decade, artists from West Africa, particularly in Nigeria, Ghana and Republic of Benin have made impressive impacts, even across the continent. For example, in Lagos and the U.K, to a little extent in the U.S., art auctions have projected African art. Also, Beninoise such as Romuald Hazoume, Julien Sinzogan, and Europe-based Ghanaian artist Owusu Ankomah have shown consistently across Europe. The active roles, which some of these artists, particularly in Lagos and the U.K. play in lifting the status and values of the continent’s art cannot be removed from whatever led to the interest of Art Dubai Fair in the West Africa sub-region.

 Described by the organisers as “over $40 million dollar worth Art Dubai 2013,” an opportunity for Africa could not have come at a better time. However, did West Africa present artists who were among top rated in the mainstream art market home and the Diaspora? The real vibrancy of African art or art from West Africa, recorded in the past few years was not completely felt at Art Dubai Fair 2013, Prof Awam Akpam of New York University noted. Akpam though agreed that it was a commendable effort to gather African artists at such a global stage, future representation of the continent could be better. “I commend Silva’s effort, but in future the mainstream art galleries in Lagos should be included. This is art fair, not a biennale; it’s commercial a gathering.”, Akpam insisted during a chat inside the Arena Gallery Hall section of the expansive venue that housed Marker alongside about 30 other galleries from across the world.

Few metres away from Akpam, one of the few art galleries in the U.K., known to have been showing African art consistently, October Gallery also had a stand. Three artists were featured: El Anatsui, Romuald Hazoume and Algerian, Rachid  Koraichi. Enthused by the prospect of the gathering and what African artists have achieved in the past few years abroad, one of the delegates of October Gallery, Gerard Houghton noted that “new artists are emerging from Africa”. Dragged into the contemporaneity issue and a possible loss of the African identity in the works of the new generation of artists, Houghton who is of the Special Projects department of October Gallery also expressed fear about loss of identity. “Some artists are already losing their African identity. This is my personal opinion, not that of the October Gallery”. He however insisted that “we need to promote new artists; and there are quite a number of them from Africa”.

Spicing the art landscape with new thingd, perhaps led to the texture of Marker. The selection of galleries for the Marker gathering, Silva explained was deliberate. “Most of the spaces here are non-commercial”, she said.

Koyo Kouoh, director at Raw Material Company said the artists whose works represented the face of Senegal at the event “are the artists that I know and have worked with”.

A section of the audience during one of the several events of Art Dubai 2013

However, sign of a more diverse Nigerian presence at Art Dubai Fair in the future was noticed. Observers from Lagos who showed support for the West African representatives, during the fair included gallery owners Biodun Omolayo, Sandra Obiago, Azu Nwagbogu of African Artists Foundation and new entrant-in-waiting, Caline Chagoury.

Some of the participated galleries from other regions across the world included Athr Gallery (Jeddah), Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris), D Gallerie (Jakarta), Experimenter (Kolkata), Alexander Gray Associates (New York), Grey Noise (Dubai), Galerie Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels), Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna), Platform China (Beijing/Hong Kong), The Third Line (Dubai), The Pace Gallery (London/Beijing/New York) and Sfeir-Semler (Hamburg/Beirut) will all be once again engaging with visitors at Art Dubai. New international entrants, including Greenaway (Adelaide/Berlin), Yvon Lambert (Paris), Victoria Miro (London), Almine Rech Gallery (Paris/Brussels), Schleicher/Lange (Berlin/Paris) and Tanja Wagner (Berlin) will be making their debut at Art Dubai. From Istanbul, Turkey alone, there were five galleries. 

  On breeding new artists, the major sponsor of Art Dubai Fair, The Abraaj Group – a multinationals capital investment organization – showed how to invest in the future when it awarded some new artists who emerged winners in an art competition named after the financier of the fair. The winners of the Abraaj Group Prize included Vartan Avakian and Rayyane Tabet (Lebanon), Iman Issa from Egypt, Huma Mulji (Pakistan) and Hrair Sarkissian, Syria. Guest curator, Murtaza Vali explained at a press conference that the works from the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions of the Abraaj Group Art Prize “have been exhibited at several venues in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Gulf and the US including: The National Museum of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia (2012), the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India”.

  The Abraaj Group is a leading investor operating in the global growth markets of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Frederic Sicre, Managing Director at The Abraaj Group said: “To nurture and cultivate the cultural climate across the regions we operate by empowering exceptional artistic talent is important to us. The Abraaj Group Art Prize is the flagship of our arts patronage program and is at the heart of our stakeholder engagement strategies. As the prize turns five, we are delighted to be able to engage with five more innovative art installations in the exhibition this year and bring five more artists into our network of winners, who become ambassadors and act as role models for younger artists.”

  Elsewhere, a Nigerian artist, Otobong Nkanga had a performance at another of the Emirates’ gathering of artists, the Sharjah Biennale. Titled Tastes of A Stone, Nkanga’s work which also included installation “continues her exploration of landscape, disappointment and the notion of home”. It included poetry and performance in what she described as “means of  narrative story telling”..


Inside Espace Douala Art Gallery, Cameroon's stand during the Marker section of Art Dubai 2013. 


Launched at the debut of Art Dubai in 2007, the Global Art Forumfeatured over 40 contributors during its 2013 edition, which included new and old participants from across the world.  New participants included Dubai-based political scientist Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla; artist and former REM lead singer Michael Stipe; writer-editors Charles Arsene-Henry, Brian Kuan Wood (Editor, eflux journal) and Guy Mannes-Abbott (author, In Ramallah, Running); artists Tarek Atoui,Tristan Bera, Manal Al Dowayan, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster,Shuruq Harb, Hassan Khan.

  Others were Ogboh, Slavs and Tatars, Ala Younis; author and poet Mourid Barghouti; writers Elif Batuman (contributor, New Yorker), Maryam Monalisa Gharavi (Editor-at-Large, The New Inquiry), Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (author of What if Latin America Ruled the World?); Lagos-based writer-editor Ogunlesi; writer/urbanist Keller Easterling (Professor, Yale University); curator-translator, and Dar Al-Ma’mun co-director, Omar Berrada; curators Reem Fadda(Associate Curator, Middle Eastern Art, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, and curator, National Pavilion for the UAE at the Venice Biennial), Koyo Kouoh (director, Raw Material Company, Dakar), Silva (director, CCA Lagos) and Tirdad Zolghadr (writer, based at Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College NY); New York-based anthropologist Uzma Z. Rizvi (Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute); composer and musician Andre Vida; and Doha-based analyst and commentator Tarik Yousef.

Speakers returning from previous years include writer and artist Douglas Coupland; curator Lara Khaldi (Director, Khalil SakakiniCultural Centre, Ramallah); geostrategist and Director of Hybrid Reality Institute Parag Khanna; Turi Munthe, founder of ‘citizen journalist’ newswire Demotix; Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London, Hans-Ulrich Obrist; and art patron and commentator Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

'A new association of art gallery professionals coming'

In the next few months, a new professional body of art gallery owners may emerge in Lagos.

A source close to the existing and only association, Art Galleries Association of Nigeria {AGAN} disclosed that some aggrieved members of the body have concluded plans to launch a new group to be known as Alliance of Nigerian Art Galleries {ALONG}.

AGAN, which was formed in 2008 courtesy of National Gallery of Art {NGA}-organized Lagos International Art Expo, has been struggling to be an independent association ever since.  

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Art Dubai 2013 opens with an African statement

Curator of Marker, Bisi Sliva receiving journalists during the press tour of Art Dubai 2013 at Medinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE...yesterday

Saturday 16 March 2013

'Beyond Bound'… Ofodile-Okanume’s convergence across periods


By Tajudeen Sowole
Chinyere Ofodile-Okanume may have expanded the scope of her art, but delving into the avant-garde, the artist’s emerging period still derives energy from her proficiency as a painter.

Ofodile-Okanume’s new form and technique, which could culminate into another period of her art, opens as Beyond Bound on March 23 to Aril 5, 2013 at the National Museum Onikan, Lagos. Clearly, the exhibition may also have much of the artist’s painting skill get less attention. 

Ofodile-Okanume’s Beyond Bound asserts the artist’s incendiary skill, a balance of new forms and styles with an identity, yet it radiates aesthetic aura.

With the new body of work, she is stepping into another period of her art, coming as she does from the traditional form of painting on canvas and leaping into broader abstract impressionism. However, the traditional art form of oil or acrylic on canvas in this show combines very well to form contemporaneity of the artist’s focus.

Some of the works, such as the Irony Of Life Series, I Better Pass My Neighbour, Journey Of Life, Empowerment, Friendship, Togetherness, I did not do it and Last Scarifies explain the artist’s new resplendence in creating timeless art. In Irony Of Life-1, Ofodile-Okanume elevates the value of stones, using spot-like impressionism technique to extract a definite art form. The composite engages the viewer as the background of subtleness adds strength to the spotty impression, offering an optical-reflective attraction to the glory of the refined stones.

From Irony Of Life-I comes her thought about moods, “celebration, happiness and merriment.” Still in the same technique, she also brings the other side of joy in Irony Of Life-II, noting that it’s not some people’s “wish to be unhappy, but a reality of life”.
One of Chinyere Ofodile-Okanume’s work, Irony of Life.
To stress a conscious and steady gravitation into a new realm of her career, another work, I Better Pass My Neighbour offers diverse application of stone, which exudes patterned-aesthetics, though devoid of brightness, but faintly vibrant in its burnt effect. It’s Ofodile-Okanume’s visual narrative in a deliberate inconsistence and imbalance, depicting Nigeria’s electricity challenges which appears to have no solution in sight. Despite a recent so-called ‘improvement in power’ that only exists in government’s propaganda machinery – during rainy seasons when the rise in water tide energises the hydro-electricity generation system – the mini electricity generator, from which Ofodile-Okanume derives one of her titles, I Better Pass My Neighbour is on the increase across the country.

For the artist, the issue is not really about the ‘increase in mega watts’, but about the reality of a government agency, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), that is not working, yet milking the people via exorbitant tariffs (known as crazy bills).
The artist stated: “Some areas have been in darkness for years, so I depict low current with the grey stones; full current with white stones.” She was however quick to add that full current areas “are not common, which brings about the rise of generators everywhere. Virtually every family has a generator; its now a necessity”. In fact, the situation excludes no class type, as she added, “The big black tones depict generators of the rich people”.

From love to caution and danger as well as other sensitive forms of expression, red keeps maintaining its symbolic place. Ofodile-Okanume draws from the sensitivity attached to the red colour using roses metaphor to remind the people of the low and high in man’s sojourn on earth. She titles the piece Journey Of Life, but drags in “black roses” to support the other side of the earthly sojourn, noting that as bad or sorrowful they may be, such occurrences cannot be omitted from one’s life.

Quite instructive is Journey Of Life – either from the aesthetic or philosophical perspective – the red roses’ stain, used creatively, with a line of black, speaks volume in terms of spirituality. Black roses do not exist, but in literary or fictitious and creative realm, the artist gets away with her assertion that “the black rose represents the unpleasant journey” of life.

As this and other works represent the artist’s new focus, there appears a central point in two or more of the exhibits. It’s a convergence of the entire display, which comes in works such as Empowerment and others that appear to bring the artist’s past forms into current experimentation, and perhaps a projection into the future shape of her art. For example, Empowerment brings representational, figurative of women into a collage of fabrics and native woven-mat. Complementing the communicative strength of collage is the artist’s message about stepping out of bound, which resonates in the activities of women. The artist stressed, “A lot of youth are still waiting to be employed, which is not forthcoming, so they need to be empowered into self-employment; the youths are the leaders of tomorrow”.
 Chinyere Ofodile-Okanume

This is Ofodile-Okanume’s solo show after seven years absence. She has re-energised her art with a new theme, the value in the dignity of labour and womanhood for which she should be commended. In a Nigerian art scene where managing family and a career in art successfully is seen as a huge task or miracle, Ofodile-Okanume’s Beyond Bound stresses the argument in favour of woman as a crucial and creative partner in the thumb-nailing, designing and building of the home.

Ofodile-Okanume had her last solo art exhibition titled Pattern of Life in 2006; it was her debut in the Biola Akinsola-led All Female Art Exhibition' titled Women In Visual Arts (WIVA) Perspective in 2008, at National Museum, Onikan, Lagos. She also exhibited with four other women in Rekindling the Nigerian Hope at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos in 2008.