Oh well ... hmmm ... I'm back!?



I just realised that I have neglected this blog for almost three years! Time truly is running away with me. If there is still anybody out there actually following this: I do apologise. However, dear sole remaining reader, the truth is that I have always used this blog to organise my own thoughts and ideas for myself rather than for your benefit. As a result, it was easy to forget about this blog when I abandoned social media two years ago.
Recently, though I have started to reach out again, I have returned to Facebook, I follow my Twitter feed again (I never did much post there, other than reposting. Twitter, for me, was always little more than a convenient and individualised version of a 'news' service, to be honest.) and so the next logical step was to return to this blog. Even more so since a while ago I started working on a research project that returns me to looking in Nigerian artistic practices. So, I may try to use this space again to organise my thoughts or to dumb some of the rather curious but not quite relevant bits of information that one tends to stumble across in the course of research in archives and the likes. So, watch me trying (if you're actually out there) … otherwise, in Allah ya yarda, writing here will once again help me to develop my thoughts, yes, on Nigerian lorry decorations again.
Oh, yes, did I mention that said research project is concerned with Nigerian lorry decorations again? It is. And, that's great. Now, let's hope that it gets my creative juices flowing again. … Oh, and on that note, the first topic that we're working on seems rather fun, or so I think: Cowboys.
So, if you're actually out there, dear sole reader, watch this space and let me convince you that Nigerian lorry arts and in particular illustrations of the cowboy theme can be interesting and, actually, fun. And, even if you're not out there, forgive me for pretending you are – I find writing easier if I imagine an interested audience out there beyond specialised academic journals.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Signature Gallery, Abuja

On my way back from Lagos to Maidguri I had another stop-over in Abuja and I used the day there to meet up with Hussein Akar, the owner of Signature Gallery in Abuja. He wasn’t around when I first popped by on Thursday on the way from the airport to Ella’s place but I was able to make an appointment for the next day. I was a bit nervous about meeting him because, despite the recommendation to see him by his uncle at the Signature Gallery in Lagos and Nabil’s friends, I wasn’t really quite sure whether I had enough questions for him to justify disturbing him. However, it turned out to be a really useful and interesting discussion. In fact, he was kind enough to call one Zaria graduate during our conversation to pass on one of my questions and provided me with his number and that of somebody at the Society of Nigeria Artists before I left. At the same time, his emphasis on Zaria graduates, Lagos as an important place of residence for artists from different parts of the country and also t
Keep reading

'Portraits' of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio

Image
When I flicked through the papers this morning – online, if you must know – I came across an article in the Daily Trust that extolls the virtues Usman dan Fodio and his generation of northern Nigerian political leaders. It sets them up as good examples of leadership and argues that current President of Nigeria Muhammad Buhari should take inspiration from them to solve the current crisis of leadership in his government. Now, I don't want to get into political arguments here. I only mention this article – here, in a space that I said I'd use to organise my thoughts for my art historical writing – because it was illustrated by a photograph of a smiling elderly man. The caption underneath the photograph identifies the man in the picture as 'Shaikh Usumanu Danfodio'. Now, the founder of the Sokoto caliphate may not have been the only Sheikh named Usman (or Osman or Usumanu) in the family. However, the article makes it pretty clear that it is him that the author
Read more

Popular Portraits of Sheikh Ahmad Tijani - Another Little (Procrastination) Gem

Image
Once again I have been procrastinating for few minutes to get over a temporary writing blog and what did I find? Look, the iconography of the Sheikh Ahmad Tijani poster I have collected in Kano has been more influential in West Africa than I originally would have thought. Granted, this is again an image from Senegal, a country with a strong tradition of Sufi Islam and adaptation of imported religious prints into new media, behind glass painting, followed by the subsequent extension of this artistic practice to include a variety of other religious and profane subject matter … anyway, its related to my research so I’m excited about it! So here you go, this is what I found: I guess, the choice of this image speaks of its ubiquity and iconic power in Senegal at least – iconic, here, in the sense of the image’s potential to symbolise not only the depicted person but also the ideas and philosophy associated with his name. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out when the boo
Keep reading