Sunday 29 June 2014

Unchaining Soyinka's A Dance of the Forests for 80th birthday


By Tajudeen Sowole
As events leading to the 80th birthday celebration of Prof Wole Soyinka on July 13, 2014 unfold, a 1960 controversial work of the Nobel Laureate is scheduled to climax the 80-day long programmes.

Titled A Dance of the Forests, the play, which was  rejected by the Federal Government during Nigeria's independence in 1960, according to the artistic director of the WS80 version of the work, Dr Tunde Awosanmi, prescribed solutions to the Nigeria nationhood question.


    Executive Producer of Project WS80, Teju Kareem (left), Edmond Enaibe and Dr Tunde Awoyemi during a press conference on the 80 th birthday celebration of Prof Wole Soyinka in Abeokuta…recently.

Speaking at Ijegba, Abeokuta, Ogun State residence of Soyinka on the preparation to stage the play, Awosanmi noted that the contents of the play is more relevant, particularly at this period of the National Confab currently going on in Abuja. He recalled that the work was the winning play of a drama writing contest organized for the commemoration of Nigeria’s independence in 1960, but was rejected by government as the play of the event “for fear of the truth.”

In April, Project WS - a Platform for International Cultural Exchange - flagged off Soyinka’s 80th birthday celebration with a touring portrait exhibition of the celebrant at the Cultural Centre, Kuto Abeokuta, Ogun State.  Shortly before Awosanmi disclosed the plans to unchain A Dance of the Forests, the Executive Producer of the Project WS, Teju Kareem, formally rolled out the remaining programmes of the celebration, which hold in select cities across Nigeria.  

Earlier, Mrs Yewande Amusan, Ogun State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism had, in her welcome address described Soyinka as an "untiring fighter for social justice and a democrat." She argued that in documenting the history of Nigeria's democratic struggle,  "Kongi would be at the top," in the list of “heroes.”
 About the participation of Ogun State in the WS80 project, Amusan assured that the government will continue to support the two companies Zmirage Multimedia and.
GlobalNewHaven.  "We have resolved to partner with these two companies as the project, for us, symbolises a continuation of the life of an inspirational man who has fought, and still fighting for the dignity of man, the rights of individuals, unity and security of his country."

The Secretary to the State Government, Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa noted that Soyinka 's "joining the club of the Octogenarian is significant for us in Ogun State." He stressed that for relentlessly committing his resources for the country, "Soyinka deserves the support of all." 

However an alert came from Mrs Bolanle Austen-Peters, CEO at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.  While commending the organisers of Project WS80, Austen Peters urged Nigerians "to own Soyinka." She noted: "We refused to own Fela Anikulapo Kuti; foreigners have taken up the responsibility." She made reference to the hit musical, Fela on Broadway. She therefore urged Nigerians to support the iconising of the Soyinka, a fearless playwright.

Kareem gave a background of the five-year-old Project WS by stating that The International Cultural Exchange (ICE) programme shares something in common with it. The project, he explained, "comes under the framework of The Open Door Series, an initiative designed to yield platform for the best of our artistic, cultural and intellectual productivity and expression."

Among the focus of the project are to combat fear, violence and its contingent reactions through the use of education, arts and culture; and engrave in the hearts of the youths the belief that education, arts and culture are panaceas to the reign of fear.”

Listed among the promoters of the project are Olusegun Ojewuyi – Co-Executive Producer/Artistic Director; Adeola Kareem – Financial Director; Lillian Amah-Aluko – Producer; Jahman Anikulapo – Consultant Media And Adjudication; Lynda Amadi – Associate Producer (Children’s Segment; and Shabaka Thompson – Associate Producer (Diaspora).
Awosanmi, in his presentation titled. Performing Soyinka A Dance of the Forests; A Rite of Beautification argued that Soyinka’s play was futuristic. " In the area of relevance, the strength of the play as an archaeology of history, a revision of the present and a prediction of the future has been authoritatively established by numerous critics of, and commentators on Soyinka’s works.”

However, Awosanmi appeared to have unearthed additional values of A Dance of the Forests. He noted what he described as 
oyinka’s laying of a “foundational structure”, which he argued “has been understood today as the phenomenon of ‘truth and reconciliation commission’ through the ‘Court of Aroni.”

Awosanmi therefore stressed that Soyinka in 1960, “when he was barely 26, foresaw a time when the oceans of iniquity of humanity will overflow their banks to the extent that mankind will seek resolution of their self-inflicted crisis in the strategy of commissioning truth and reconciliation panels.”
  As Awosanmi disclosed that the play will be presented in non-traditional or formal stage, he refused to be specifics on the location and other details of the proposed play for fear of another government clampdown to stop it from being staged,

Awosanmi insisted that Soyinka’s work has stressed the contribution of art in nation building. “The point being made here is that in Soyinka’s A Dance of the Forests, the structure had been constructed for all these ‘new’ human society reconstruction and re-engineering strategies that have been globally applied in crisis-ridden regions of the world. So, who says that art does not stock in its womb solutions to the eternal problems of man?”


Mrs Yewande Amusan, Ogun State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism (left); Secretary to the State Government, Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa; and Mrs Bolanle Austen Peters, CEO of Terra Kulture during the press conference.

But the various structures of government put in place from 1960 till date in the area of conflict resolution, Awosanmi stated, have failed. In fact, the ongoing confab, he predicted is not going to be any different. “Only if humanity, especially, in Nigeria, could just pause for a moment, to think and be wise! We all know what became of the ‘Oputa Panel – a mere jamboree just like all the others in Nigeria before it, including the on-going national conference (Kutigi Confab?).”

If politicians, in collaboration with technocrats have failed the people, the theatre stage could make a difference. “Therefore, as a theatre director, I will, through this performance, be instituting the real ‘truth and reconciliation commission’ where the ultimate parameter for such acts – “truth is the only condition for justice”, and put in the vintage Soyinkaresque words – “justice is the only condition for humanity” – will be affirmed. So, an audience must be ready to submit him/herself to this pre-condition. Therefore, what is happening at the moment in Abuja as ‘National Conference’ is a mere mockery of the original template provided by Soyinka in the institution of the ‘Gathering of the Tribes’, which A the Dance of the Forests had futuristically prescribed.”

 In his paper titled Homage to the Quintessential Artiste,  Anikulapo described Soyinka as “the Quintessential Artiste.” He noted that the playwright “has remained a source of inspiration and contentment on the potential role of the Artiste and thinker (philosopher-Artiste) in the Society.”

Anikulapo urged artistes to use the Soyinka example to be relevant across the board. “The Artiste just as our conscientious comrades in other professions in the larger society must continue to interrogate the words and actions of the seemingly un-rescue-able power elites. That is the only way we can remain relevant to the needs and aspirations of our people, who like a tiny percentage of us, are not as privileged to be endowed with intellectual or vocational resources with which they could challenge their oppressors.”  For the sake of literary proficiency, 80 Essayists, according to Kareem will “witness presentation A Dance Of The Forest’ at Ijegba.

Other features of the WS80 rolled out by the orgaisers include Essay competition among Secondary Students from all over the country; Children’s creative and cultural expression presentation; July, 11 and 12, a conference The Soyinka Impulse:(Art, Humanity, transition and permanence: calibrating Soyinka at 80); opening performance of Death And The King’s Horseman, directed by Femi Osofisan with the assistance from Bisi Adigun; July, 13,  Essay writing  Education: Path to Freedom and the Future; 80 Spoken word performances. Theme: The Soyinka Impulse And EducationPath to Freedom and the Future; and July 14, Dialogue Through Spoken Words.

Kareem explained that given the significance of the 2014 edition of the project, several universities abroad will join their Nigerian counterparts in the educational and cultural fiesta. The participants, he added will perform in poetry, drama, dances, spoken words and songs. Countries listed to participate include Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium
U.K and the U. S.

Saturday 28 June 2014

Govt receives artefacts from U.S museum, Nigeria Custom


By Tajudeen Sowole
About a week after two artefacts were returned to Benin royal family by a Briton, Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) has announced return of another set of eight cultural objects.

Also the NCMM, disclosed that it has taken possession of 18 artefacts intercepted by the Nigeria Custom Service at the Seme border, a boundary town shared with Republic of Benin.

Some of the arttefacts "returned by Boston museum" on display at the National Museum, Lagos.

In the past few years, Nigeria's agitation to get foreign museums holding its priceless cultural objects to return them has been loud on the international scene.

Director-General of NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman, during a press briefing on Thursday, at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos stated that the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston, U.S., has returned eight artefacts, which include works in bronze, terracotta, wood of Benin, Ife, and Oron origin to Nigeria. Shortly before showing the works to journalists, Usman explained the achievement was made possible after the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation opened dialogue with foreign museums four years ago.

For intercepting the artefacts at Seme border, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, High Chief Edem Duke who was present at the briefing said "we are grateful to the Nigerian Customs Service for their alertness."

Usman said: "About four years ago, we started what we call sharing and collaboration with European museums on the need to jointly find a way of resolving our differences concerning the holding of Nigerian antiquities." He added that the collaboration has resulted in the return of "over 100 objects in the last few years."

As Usman stressed that the discussion on restitution of Nigerian artefacts was ongoong, he disclosed: "today, we are adding another feather to our cap as the Museum of Fine Art , U.S has returned eight precious objects and priceless Nigerian works of art that were distributed from the estate of an African art collector."

The D-G explained that MFA is actively participating in the announcement of the return of the artefacts to Nigeria. "The MFA and NCMM are jointly and simultaneously issuing a press release on the return of these beautiful artefacts today."

Shortly after the briefing in Lagos, Usman and Duke showed the eight and 18 objects from Boston and Seme border to members of the press.

Duke said: "As a people that hold their cultural heritage in high esteem, it is our primary responsibility to ensure the protection, security and safety of these priceless antiquities." He expressed the gratitude of the federal government to MFA "for their collaboration and cooperation that ensured the repatriation of these objects."

Last week, in Benin, a Briton, Mark Walker who is the  grand child of one of the soilders that looted Benin in 1897 returned two artefacts to the royal family.

Returned-artefacts: How a Briton exposed weak int’l relation, set govt against Benin royal house



By Tajudeen Sowole
A Briton, Mark Walker’s return of two cultural objects of Benin, Edo State origin to the Royal family in Nigeria a week ago, has questioned the absence of international relation required to carry out such mission in contemporary period.

Mark Walker in Benin, returning two bronzes to the Royal family…recently. Pic: By Prof Peju Layiwola
The good intention of Walker in returning the objects looted by his great-grand father, Captain Philip Walker, during the British army’s invasion of Benin palace in 1897 has created a row between the Benin monarch and the Nigerian government.

Ahead of Walker’s visit with the two objects, the Benin Palace and the Federal Government of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) had disagreement over where the artefacts should be received or who to hand it over to.

There was an indication that the NCMM wanted the objects received either in Lagos or in Abuja and by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, High Chief Edem Duke. But the Benin Palace, according to the Enogie of Obazuwa Prince Edun Akenzua thought differently, seeing Mark’s return of the objects as “a private visit.” Akenzua was quoted saying that If the government of Nigeria succeeds to get the British Prime Minister, for example, to return the more contentious pieces such as the Idia mask and other objects currently in the British museum retuned, perhaps NCMM can have say over where it should be received. “But this is a private visit and of course for now there is no museum in the palace.”

The Director-General of NCMM, Mallam Yusuf Abdallah Usman in a letter to the palace stated that government did not intend to “undermine” the revered place of the palace as custodian of the Benin ancestral culture, but respect the status of the Nigerian state under the President of the country. “We believe that Benin objects have assumed the status of national heirlooms and thus ought to be welcomed to the country enroute their root, in part, by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 
We do not believe that this will in anyway undermine your efforts; it will only further enhance fuller national and international interest in the epochal contributions of Benin to the world and accentuate your personal struggle to bring back the works of your forebears.”

And despite Akenzua’s assurance that “the Oba will hand over those things, like in the past, to the government,” the NCMM seemed unimpressed. During the visit of Mark and handing over of the objects to the palace, the government was, according to reports, not represented. Abdallah disagreed that the NCMM was not represented when Walker handed over the artefacts to the Benin royal family a week ago. He claimed that he was “out of the country on official assignment so I could not attend personally but the Curator and management staffs of the National Museum Benin were there.”

 While Walker appeared to have mishandled the process of returning the objects, the NCMM seemed to have also fallen into the obvious web of poor international relation expected to come in place in such visit and restitution of cultural objects. Clearly, the error of Walker was not properly managed.

Prof Folarin Shyllon, Vice Chairman, UNESCO sub-Committee on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property argued that the NCMM should have handled it with better caution. He noted that Walker did not put into consideration the fact that Benin as at the time of 1897 is different now, and under a nation state of Nigeria. 

Shyllon cited an example of foreign countries where similar return of arterfacts happened from private hands, and recalled that the artefacts being returned were handed over to the government. “For example, when some artefacts were returned to Ethiopia from a Scottish, the government received the works in Addis Ababa.”
  Folarin however stated that given the situation created by Walker’s lack of understanding of the complexity involved and disrespect for ethics of international relation, “the NCMM should have been more careful in managing the situation.”   

However, there seemed to be lack of cohesion and harmony in the requests for Nigeria’s cultural objects. The Benin monarch and NCMM appear not to have a unified or central channel. Prof Peju Layiwola, Associate Professor of Art History University of Lagos, (UNILAG), stated that the significance of returning the artefacts to Benin where they were looted outweighs any other consideration. She traced the Oba’s request for the artefacts to pre-establishment of the NCMM.  Layiwola, who has also made scholarly efforts to get looted Benin cultural objects returned insisted that receiving the artefacts outside Benin would be an imbalance of justice. She therefore faulted “NCMM in its pursuit of "best practises,” and argued that the government agency “have downplayed the importance of having the restitution done in Benin (not Abuja) in the Oba’s palace-the very location where this injustice was carried out." She added: "It is only then that the pains of the past inflicted by the British in 1897 can be truly assuaged.”

The row over return of the artefacts – described by observers as “avoidable” - perhaps should afford the NCMM an opportunity to strengthen its relationship with Benin Royal Family and work more closely on the return of the remaining artefacts. In fairness to the NCMM, the royal houses such as Ife and Benin have been collaborating with government in several activities such as promotion through exhibitions of Nigeria’s cultural objects in the country and abroad. For example, the touring exhibition Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient NigeriaAlso, held in the U.K, Spain and U.S; Benin-Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria, which toured Europe and U.S were done by NCMM and the royal families. However, the lack of harmonisation of the separate requests – from the Benin monarch and NCMM - seemed to have created a clash of interests between government and the royal house as seen in the Walker’s return of the artefacts. 

Ahead of the challenge in getting more prominent and popular work like the Idia Mask, Ife Head in the British Museum, seated Nok Terracotta sculpture in the Louvre, Paris, France and others in Austrian, German and U.S museums returned, the NCMM and the royal families involved in the agitation would need a central channel through which the possessors can relate without duplication of functions.   

And irrespective of who received the Walker-returned artefacts or where they were collected, the people of Benin's joy was echoed by Layiwola. “It was indeed a glorious and historic day for Benin and for all advocates for the return of Benin cultural artifacts.  Personally, it gives me so much joy that my ongoing project on Benin1897.com, which began in 2004, is now bearing fruits.”
  Layiwola recalled that the last time similar return occurred was 78 years ago, specifically in 1936. It was “the regalia of Oba Ovoranmwen, and was returned to Oba Akenzua II.”

After Magic Ladders, Shonibare opens new show at Chicago museum


By Tajudeen Sowole
Less than two months after the U.K-based Nigerian artist, Yinka Shonibare (MBE) ended a solo art exhibition Magic Ladders, at The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, U.S, he has just opened another show in the same country.
  His current exhibition, which is the fourth Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago ()MCA) Project opened last week, and ending on October 2014.

Installation view, Wind Sculpture I Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2013
Steel armature with hand-painted fiberglass resin cast
240 x 133 5/16 x 31 3/16 in. (610 x 340 x 80 cm)

Organized by Naomi Beckwith, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at MCA, the exhibition continues Shonibare’s highlights of aristocratic and post-colonial themes.

Early in the year Shonibare had a two-month long solo art exhibition Dreaming Rich at Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong.

MCA, on its website noted that Shonibare, has spent various parts of his life in England and Nigeria—two countries with a long, complex relationship. 

The statement described Shonibare as an artist influenced by his personal experiences in a newly liberated nation and its former colonial ruler, calling himself a “postcolonial hybrid.” But the curatorial note sees his wide-ranging works—including photography, sculpture, film, installation, and performance—exploring and questioning, more universally, the construction of cultural and national identity in a globalized society.

“Shonibare is best known for his installations of headless mannequins dressed in clothing made out of Dutch wax fabrics—or “African” batik. Although these colorful fabrics in vibrant patterns have become a sign of cultural pride and identity for Africans, they are a colonial invention, having been mass-produced in Southeast Asia, and exported by the Netherlands since the mid-19th century. This type of fabric intrigues Shonibare because it is simultaneously a fully manufactured and an authentic sign of   “Africanness.” In his cross-cultural investigations, Shonibare often examines moments in Western art history, especially the rococo and Victorian periods, that correspond with the early days of transatlantic maritime trade.

“Shonibare’s MCA Plaza installation includes three of his new Wind Sculptures. Nearly 20 feet high, each sculpture captures the movement of a billowing bolt of fabric. Their design was inspired by the sails of ships whose patterns derived from Dutch wax fabrics. The artist chooses these iconic fabrics to exemplify how signs of national or ethnic identity are culturally constructed.

“Shonibare’s installation is the fourth MCA Plaza Project. The series previously featured work by Amanda Ross-Ho (2013), Martin Creed (2012), and Mark Handforth (2011). Shonibare’s work is also included in the exhibition Earthly Delights (June 28–November 30, 2014).”

Born in Lagos and raised in the U.K Shonibare’s last visit to Nigeria few years aho had him toured some art galleries and other related facilities in Lagos Islands and met artists at a gathering organized by Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island Lagos. He explained that, through he had been in touch with Nigerian art via artists who visited the U.K., “I need to know more, so it’s good for me to come here and meet other artists.”

It was his first visit since he left Nigeria in the 1980s at 17. But he notes that Lagos has grown faster than he imagined: “It’s very encouraging to see that the city is beautified. I am excited, actually; very clean and different from when I was here 30 years ago. There is a room for improvement though and am ready to make my contributions.”

From Art of Football, young masters emerge in Lagos


By Tajudeen Sowole
In consolidating its position as the oldest yearly art event in the country, African Art Resource Centre (AARC)’s Experience Nigeria Art Show recently gave three prizes to artists and three awards to others.


The 2014 edition held at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos had Experience Nigeria Art Competition, which was themed Art of Football gave the First Prize to Kareem Samson for his work Enmity Eradicator under the Gani Odutokun Award for Excellence in Art; second Prize, Njoku Francis for a work titled Impossible is Nothing; and Third Prize Mefule Magnus.

For winning the first prize, Samson picked a cheque of N150 000; second prize winner, Francis got N100 000 and Magnus was given  N50 000. Each of the winners also got certificate of participation.

The theme of the Experience Nigeria Art Competition titled Art of Football was based on the ongoing FIFA World Cup, on which the artists, through paintings, sculptures and mixed media rendered diverse perceptions of the soccer mundial.

In the professional category of the Experience Nigeria Art Show, the Art Teacher Of The Year was the given to Mr Segun Al-Marouf of Supreme Education Foundation;
Mr Tajudeen Sowole of The Guardian Newspapers got Art Journalist Of The Year and; Sponsor Of The Year was Pillar Oil Ltd.

Over 100 entries were taken for Experience Nigeria 2014 art competition Art of Football, but 75 works from 15 artists showed at the exhibition hall of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU). Artists whose works were shown included Sunday Osevwe, Kayode Adewumi, Lanre Ayuba, Sangorinu Adewale, Akangbe Ogun, Iyiola Kazeem, Adeyinka Fabayo, Olaitan Bolarinwa, Rotimi Togbe, Adewale Oloruntogbe, Femi Johnson, Ademola Onibonokuta. 

A highly conceptualised and spread composite in the football pitch shape, Samson’s winning work is a mixed media that collages flags of each participating country in the Brazil 2014 World Cup with figures of 11 players. Adding the the depth and aesthetics of the work are cut out portraits of known footballers across the world as borders for the landscape-shaped work. Among the pictures are Pele, Michel Platini, Rudd Gullit , George weah and Roger Miller as well as mostly stars of the 1960s and 70s.

Elsewhere, the concept of using art to highlight the FIFA World Cup 2014, coincidentally happened in the U.S. with the exhibition titled Futball, a gathering of over 30 artists at Lacma,. Among the exhibiting artists in the U.S show are Nigerian-born America portraitist Kehinde Wiley, Andy Warhol and controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

In Nigeria, the Oladele Olaopa-led Experience Nigeria Art Show has been engaging sports bringing art and sports together in the last three editions or more. The show dragged golf into the art space of Nigeria in the past four years. Among the shows were several editions held at  Ikoyi Club 1938.

Ahead of the show Olaopa stated: “In 2009, we organized an art exhibition on golf – The Art of Golf – at Ikoyi Club 1938. The highly successful event was sponsored by Nokia.
Football is the most popular sport on the planet and no less in Nigeria where it enjoys massive followership that cuts across people from all social, economic and ethnic strata.

“The is the biggest and most desired football event in the world and the Nigerian team – Super Eagles – have qualified to be a part of it, hence the choice of the theme.

“When expectations and enthusiasm are high – we intend to organize an art show of works by emerging Nigerian artists on the theme of football. This event is designed to capture all aspects of the culture of football in general and its peculiar influences in Nigeria.”

Last year it moved to Abuja, for the first time, with a show  tagged Splashes of Nigeria… Shades of things To Come held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, FCT.

Late renowned artist, Gani Odutokun got posthumour recognition

Saturday 21 June 2014

Three finalists emerge 2014 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature


From the long list of 10, three finalists Akin Bello, (Egbon of Lagos), Toyin Abiodun (The Trials of Afonja) and Othuke Ominibohs have been announced as contenders for the 2014 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.
The 10 long list had been selected out of 163 entries from 17 African countries. Nigeria had 128 from the lots
And when the prize winner receives the award on July 9, 2014, three presidents, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; and John Dramani Maama of Ghana will attend the event slated to hold the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The judges are from Uganda, South Africa, Mali, Nigeria and Algeria.

Storytellers on the spot of Ehikhamenor's Enchanted World


By Tajudeen Sowole
The complexity of retelling stories to make the past relevant in the future drags design artist, Victor Ehikhamenor into employing his newly found techniques of fold and tie to expose what he notes as a bewitched world.

A sculptural wall piece The Whirlwind Dancers of Uwessan by Victor Ehikhamenor.

And deliberately, to show the rest of the world that Africa has better stories to tell outside wars and crisis, he takes his thoughts, via visual narratives, to a foreign space in the exhibition titled. Chronicles Of The Enchanted World, currently showing for five weeks at The Gallery of African Art (GAFRA) London, U.K.

He declares, ahead of the show's opening, that his new body of work as a medium of story-telling "drags the past to come witness the present and shape the future for those interested." The artist who has his fingers on the literary genre also warns of how “elasticity" of retelling story affects generations to the point of enchantment.

The artist's claim of a vantage position, as a columnist on socio-political matters and graphic artist, to highlight the issues raised in his exhibition may not be countered: recall that he ran the weekly column, Excuse Me! at the now rested 234NEXT newspaper. Last year he authored a book, which shares the same heading with the rested column.  With a dual exploits in visual and literary arts, Ehikhamenor may be seeing things that others, storytellers across the genres and medium particularly, do not see.

In recent times, he has been one of the most visible experimental artists on the Lagos art scene. Last year, in a solo show titled Amusing the Muse, held at Temple Muse, Victoria Island, Lagos, the artist brought a self-coined paintforation.  It’s a technique supposedly of the family of painting, but has a relief texture, stressing his identity of blurring the lines between art and design.

For the London show, it’s a step further into the wall relief of “paintings and sculptural installations.” He calls it “fold and tie.” From his native Edo-inspired window and lines themes to the current adventure in foil and perforation technique, Ehikhamenor's oeuvre of probity into lost ancient visual expression continues. For his new body of work it beams searchlight onto the psychology of storytelling as the reverberating or "elasticity" expands the artist's exploration of the Africa’s lost creative values.

Some of the works from “Chronicles Of The Enchanted World, viewed via soft copies include paintings, light relief and installation that summarise the artist's experimental efforts as well as stress what constitute the contents of retelling stories that have the world “enchanted.” 

For example, a textile and tapestry-like installation titled The Whirlwind Dancers of Uwessan, represents five images of masquerades depiction, which he says are of the ishan people of Edo State. South South of Nigeria. The coming of the dancers, he explains, is hardly tied to any period of the year unlike most masquerades in Africa that are usually festival related. “The are used to mark celebrations of any kind.” 

Another piece, The Rainmaker, which attempts to go beyond the relief into a multi-dimensional image, carries the artist’s drawings identity along in his new tie and folds technique.

Essentially, Ehikhamenor’s Enchanted World” is also an attempt to rewrite stories coming from Africa. He argues that “everything that the west do not understanding about Africa is seen as war.” As debatable as his argument is, there is no doubt that the need to se Africa from other lights is basically the responsibility of the continent’s creative community; the political elites and managers of economy have failed the people.

As much as artist needs to make literary addition to appropriate their work in what is known as artist statement, sometimes over intellectualising the contents could be distractive. In appropriating Ehikhamenor's work, one needs to be mindful of the artist's subconscious penchants for literary expression that tends to dwarf the real visual contents. This much his Artist Statement, which appears like review of a book suggests. Art, it could be argued, breathes better on its own with less literary lift.


However, in the relevant extracts, he notes that as much as history and resultants occurrence pressurise writers to  "retell stories" the responses, he argues are usually full of exaggeration to rewrite the past. "As these narratives are espoused by one storyteller and then another, from one generation to the other, they become elastic and magical, sometimes contentiously constructed."

Reconstructing what perhaps is a distorted past, the artist recalls how “a once vibrant village” had tutored the young ones in folktales and the values of “shrines and altars of worship.” But all is not lost to modernity and contemporaneity as the likes of Ehikhamenor still connect with the “vibrant” roots. “As one grow older and dissect these old tales, the reality of things kick in, the characters and events heard of as a child are not as far away anymore.” He stresses how “those early distant characters become “us”, we the living.”

About three years ago Ehikhamenor had, at Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos shown, Entrances and Exits: In Search of Not Forgetting, and started unfolding a form of native contents.

A year after that show, he took his thoughts on identity to overseas and showed at a yearly art and culture festival in Greece.

Ehikhamenor graduated from Bendel State University, Ekpoma (now Ambrose Alli University) with a BA degree in English and Literary Studies. He also holds Masters of Fine Art (MFA) from University of Maryland, College Park in the USA.

After his studies and working experience in the US, Ehikhamenor returned to Nigeria and shared his design skills as art director of the rested 234Next newspapers. His experience as an independent book cover designs of many years was an asset he brought into the creative section of the newspaper.

Some of his solo exhibitions abroad are Beyond The Surface, at Utopia Gallery, Washington, DC and Spirits In Dialogue, the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute Gallery, Washington, DC  both held in  2000.  

In Homeland Memories, .Offoedu-Okeke unearths African symbols, icons


By Tajudeen Sowole
When painter Onyema Offoedu-Okeke takes his architecture background into a search for the components of forgotten ancient African civilisation, his canvas appears to rescue the glory of modernism from the grip of contemporaneity

The artist, in his current exhibition titled Memories of Homeland, which opens on Monday,  June 23 to August 30, 2014.at Temple Muse, Victoria Island, Lagos, actually projects his thoughts on modernism as against the current tide of contemporary expression.

And quite significant, Offoedu Okeke's technique of drizzling the canvas, of which he has earned a peculiar signature appears missing in the new body of work. For Memories of Homeland, signs and motifs populate faces and abstractive expression in the artist's new form that has little traces of his drizzling technique. While every artist has the creative license to move or change the look of his canvas at will, Offoedu Okeke's current form denies followers of his trajectory, particularly historians, to sequentially chain his periods together.

But he insists that Homeland Memories is made up of all his styles such as “Headload, Tapestroid, Cranioglyph, Drizzles, and Rectilinear Panellation."

Four panel piece, Timely Knock on Wood by Onyema Offodu-Okeke
And having asserted his knowledge of the local art scene with a compendium Artists of Nigeria, published last year, his ability to drag followers of his work in a zigzag direction may just be overlooked. "With this exhibition I am trying to encapsulate my styles," he explains to a select guests during a preview.

However, in the theme of unearthing the glory of African icons and symbols, the artist's articulation of he subject on canvas is almost faultless. Backed with his science and art of architecture, Offodu-Okeke challenges historians,  archaeologists and anthropologists.

Specifically, one of the works, an abstraction populated by synbols and titled the League of Plenipotentiary highlights the imbalance in how the icons of the world have been presented across generations. Africa, he notes, have been shortchanged. Heroes and other materials of African descents that pre-dates European civilisation are either missing or mildly represented. What exactly went wrong with the facts available through sources such as archaeology? "Those who documented icons of the pasts deliberately diminished African icons to elevate theirs."

The artist's argument may not just be far from the truth. For example, quite a lot of facts must have been lost to distortion by archaeologists about objects of African origin. German archaeologist of the British-colonial era, Leo Frobenius, who was renowned in African findings, comes to mind in this context: while many Africans revere his archaeological exploits, many academics still argue that he was a looter who also distorted facts.

As passionate as Offoedu-Okeke is about highlighting the lost creative assets of Africa, he is not exactly keen in being identified based on his race or period of work. It's common really for artist of African descents to de-emphasise their origin, rejecting the term ‘African artist.’ "I see myself as a modernist; not trapped to my time," he declares.

Some of the other works include Veterans Wearing Garlands of Experience, Timely Knock on Wood, Memories of Histories and Otanjele, among the 22 pieces.

And he may just be adding his own visual vocabulary to the art lexicon with word such as Tapestroid, what sounds like a family of tapestry. It's inspired by the artist's architecture-training. He explains that it's like “a number of spinning cones arranged in grid-formation." And the results, he stresses "is a geometric theatre of spinning cones dissolving into optically altering forms, shapes and colours."  Offoedu-Okeke had his debut solo exhibition Spring Forever, at Russian Cultural Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos. In 1997. He continued in 2000 with Idioms of Butterfly Kisses, Mydrim Art Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos; 2009 Boudoir Terra-Cotta, Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lago; 2009, May-Day: Bless the Head that Bears the Crown, Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos; 2010, Libation: Entreating the Divine, Quintessence Art Gallery, Falomo Shopping Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos; and 2010, Headload: Utility/Materiality, arc Gallery, Tottenham, London, UK.

Offoedu-Okeke was born in Aba and received his architecture degree from the University of Nigeria, Enugu. He started working as a full time studio artist in 1992 and spent over ten years researching  and writing a book on modern and contemporary artists of Nigeria, which is one of the most complete compendiums of Nigerian art to date.