- an art historical scrapbook -
What inspired you to go into visual arts?I would say passion, which developed at a very tender age. I was actually a science student in college. I had wanted to study architecture or civil engineering, and had even attended a one year advanced level Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics class. But the passion for what I could do well with little effort was stronger. It was a tough decision I had to make to drop out of science class, which I’m yet to have regrets over.You started off as a painter but also do sculpture and mural. Could you tell us about the evolution of your art?My journey in art is a very interesting one. I studied painting only because I had to choose between it and sculpture. I could have studied sculpture, graphics or ceramics. Growing up I had a broad understanding of these fields and actually practiced in every area, with the support of a father who, although was not an artist, encouraged and guided his first son to embrace anything art, hoping to raise a sound architect. On getting into the university, I fell into the hands of wonderful teachers, some of whom, I noticed, effectively combined these fields. At graduation I walked away with three of the five prizes my department offered.Of all of them, which are you most comfortable with?I’m fortunate to be an artist who has worked extensively in various genres. From painting to sculpture, mosaic to installations - and I enjoy every bit of what I do. But of note is my love for installations, given how flexible it is and the fact that it encompasses several postmodern art forms.What was the motivation to do the installations on trafficking?The media is filled with stories of human trafficking and forced labour. The victims who in many cases are children, cannot reason or make quality choices, so I ‘speak’ for them. If these heinous crimes are brought to the fore, then we can begin to suggest ingenious ways of tackling them. Also, I’m fascinated, but appalled by the methods involved in human trafficking.Why do the methods fascinate you?The methods are replete with deception. Most of these children are baited into this devilish enterprise, with some of their parents being ignorantly supportive.Is there one of your art works you feel most attached to and would not let go of?None. I love to share my creations with the public. While my paintings, sculpture and murals target galleries and the luxury of connoisseurs’ homes as a final resting place, my installations aim at reaching the public with a special message expressed in an elaborate visual-spatial language.Please could you explain your work, ‘Child trafficking'?‘Child Trafficking’ uses humour, irony and metaphor to address critical issues of forced child labour and abuse, subtly embedded in our social environment and greatly suggestive of the prevalence of a new kind of slavery - contemporary slavery.Your works sometimes straddle the space between paintings and sculpture. When did you first decide to break those barriers and how well received would you say the works are?It started after my MFA program in 1996 when, upon setting out into full-time practice, I made a decision to dedicate an aspect of my art to addressing critical issues of social and political injustices in my society. I soon discovered that the two dimensional surface, single-handedly, became less effective for this task. I needed to introduce three dimensional forms of creation. So far, the technique has remained potent.What does it feel like when you see your works adorn public spaces?I feel fulfilled as an artist.What is life like as a full time artist?Very Interesting! You are always in charge of your life. You are able to create works that make you an artist. Just imagine a footballer who doesn’t play football or one who warms the bench. But you feel like a valuable striker.Have any of your kids shown interest in art and are you encouraging them if they have?Yes. My little boy who is six is doing very well now, and I’m not about to discourage him.In your view, how much has the art industry grown into a proper one?It is evolving at a great speed. Whether a boom may or may not be on its way, it seems smart for artists to stick with their practice, working diligently and professionally. The genre of African art that had largely been overlooked is finally getting a turn in the international spotlight.What next after your ongoing trafficking project?I’m working right now not knowing how my art is going to evolve. But you know there is always an issue to address.
Daily Trust, Wednesday, 02 March 2011 00:00
Rakiya A. Muhammad, Sokoto & Misbahu Bashir, Abuja
Prominent Islamic scholar in Sokoto Sheikh Abubakar Jibril was arrested by the police on Monday afternoon and was flown to Abuja yesterday over what police sources said was the defacing of some campaign posters of President Goodluck Jonathan. The Sheikh, who is the Chief Imam of the Farfaru Juma’at Mosque in Sokoto, was arrested with his two sons, his driver and a domestic aide, according to relations and the police. Spokesman for the Sokoto police command ASP Al-Mustapha Sani said policemen on patrol arrested Sheikh Abubakar and the others while they were using black paint to deface the posters of the president and his deputy at some roundabouts in Sokoto metropolis at about 5pm on Monday.
Sani said they were arrested over inciting public disturbance and have been transferred to the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja.
In Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer DCP Olusola Amore confirmed that five people including Sheikh Abubakar were being held at the Force CID and that they were arrested for allegedly defacing the posters of the PDP presidential candidate and his running mate. He said they were also suspected of inciting dislike for Jonathan and of acts capable of fanning the flames of public disturbance.
[…]
But a civil society activist, Ibrahim Tudun Doki described the arrest as political intolerance by the Jonathan regime. Tudun Doki, who is a House of Representatives candidate of the Congress for Progress Change [CPC] recalled that General Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign billboard was destroyed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State last week and that the police did not arrest or charge anyone to court for the action.
[…]
Read the full article here:
I am not in a position to comment on the accusations or the political ambitions that may or may not have informed the whole incident. And I have been hovering about how to express my kind of perspective in a way that fit this blog. Let me try.
I am fascinated by the idea that authorities in Sokoto would accord sufficient significance to the disfigurement of the current president’s campaign posters to take such drastic action. My interest in the relationship between (aspects of) visual culture and politics predates these news. Visually one of the defining impressions of my spring/summer 2007 visit to Nigeria was the prevalence of murals of politicians alongside the roads on which I travelled. Even in what appeared to me more remote areas of the country, there was the occasional house on which the portrait of a politician had been painted (as well as those ‘decorated’ by an advertisement for, if I remember correctly, Simba Motors). During a stroll through Zaria’s old town I stumbled across the abandoned signs portraying politicians. What an effort and what skill invested into visual communications considering that I had been previously warned to expect an impoverished visual culture. It also highlighted that there was a political culture that employed visual means of communication. And, that is rather interesting. It contradicted some of the statements I had read in the limited body of literature that spoke about visual culture in northern Nigeria.
There are prominent historians of Nigerian arts who argued that Islam had prevented the development of ‘meaningful’ (whatever that means) traditions of visual arts in the region or that, alternatively, it had only sustained abstract, aniconic artistic traditions. Instead, incidents like this one suggest that, in addition to a lively visual culture of politics, there is a substantial investment in these images. Why else the drastic reaction? This iconoclasm, if that is what you want to call it, is not religious but political. Not unlike the global Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons cannot be understood in religious terms only. As Jytte Klaussen has demonstrated the political context in which these images were published significantly contributed to the escalation of the affair. This is not to say that northern Nigerian visual culture is not influenced by the presence of Islam and prominent interpretation of its sources with regard to the arts. For example, it would be interesting to know why President Goodluck Jonathan has chosen to promote his campaign using music videos – including a short song in Hausa[1] but Ibrahim Shekarau hasn’t.[2] The answer is probably complex but I wouldn’t be surprised if (in the widest sense) religiously inspired attitudes towards music videos and the dancing they depict had played a (possible small) role here. But to restrict the discussion of visual culture in northern Nigeria to the religious argument, would clearly mean to miss important dimensions. And, surely, this incident is another reminder of just that.
[1] I got no political investment here on any side but I was too happy to find I had not totally forgotten Hausa not to link to it.
[2] Or did I just not find it on Youtube, correct me if I'am wrong! Pls. I’d love to know.