Ben Osaghae (1962-2017): Jess Castellote's Obituary

Sometimes I don't quite know whether it is appropriate for me to blog about something or the other. This is one of these cases. And, this time it is because I don't know what I could possibly add and when that's the case I find it so much easier to just 'share' somebody else's ideas on Facebook, Twitter, whatnot. So, before I make this entirely and inappropriately about myself or delay this any further, let me just drop the news.

Ben Osaghae died on Tuesday.

Lagos Street Art: Picturing Donald Trump

I was on fieldwork in Nigeria in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected and I remember that his inauguration was highly anticipated. Many people I spoke to hoped that as the son of a Kenyan man he would take a special interest in Africa while others feared that he might be assassinated before officially taking office. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the recent elections were once again followed closely in Nigeria and that Donald Trump – as potential saviour or threat, depending on one's political leanings featured prominently in recent public imaginations. There were pro-Trump rallies in the Southeast by those once again asking for the independence of Biafra, while the Daily Trust warned that relations with the US would be unstable for the period of Trump's presidency … and, then, there are Nigeria's artists, of course, who reflect on contemporary developments in the US.

So, I just leave you with this photograph of an artist in Lagos producing a portrait of Donald Trump that I stumbled across on Twitter this morning. I'll refrain from further commentary. Except, let me highlight that Trump here is shown wearing military uniform rather than the suits that he is more commonly seen in. Any significance to that? I don't know. You tell me.

Financial Times features Contemporary Nigerian Art

The other day I was rather pessimistic that contemporary Nigerian arts would benefit from the popularity of by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, one of who's works sold for over US$ 1 mio the other week at Sotheby's African arts sale in New York. Turns out I needn't have been so pessimistic. I missed much more than I'd thought while I was offline – both here and in real life for almost two years. This week the Financial Times, of all newspapers, ran a feature on contemporary Nigerian arts (paywall).

The article by Matthew Green can be found in the section on Investing in Nigeria and accordingly argues that

… a growing number of wealthy Nigerians and international collectors are viewing the country's latest artistic creations with an eye on profit as well as aesthetics. Word of new talent in Lagos spreads quickly to London and New York where the market for contemporary African art is booming. Some buyers are quietly betting that many pieces as will be as well received as work from China once was. New Nigerian art is also resonating more strongly home, supported by a fast-evolving infrastructure of galleries, exhibitions and prizes. Rather than pursuing more timeless or abstract themes, painters, sculptors and photographers are building new audiences by engaging with social issues ranging from the Boko Haram insurgency to the impact of the migration crisis and evolving gender dynamics.

They mention among others Azu Nwagbogu, the director of African Artists' Foundation in Lagos who has been instrumental since 2010 in raising the profile of Nigerian and African photographers with his annual LagosPhoto (just about to come to an end for this year). As well as LagosPhoto, the recent inaugural Art X Lagos received a mention because the exhibition was 'seeking to bridge the gap between contemporary art and popular culture with bold immersive events.

Among the artists they discuss the sculptor Adeniyi 'Niyi' Olagunju features prominently. Olagunju had his first solo exhibition in London in 2010 entitled Structures of Trade (here, an interview he did with the BBC back in those days) and was recently represented at the 1:54 Contemporary African Arts Fair in London. Of particular interest to us here – with that slant towards northern Nigerians art and visual culture is their brief discussion of Fati Abubakar and her Instagram account @bitsofborno. That one's worth checking out for another, very humane perspective on life in the state that keeps on hitting the news because of Boko Haram and the resulting refugee crisis and famine.

Daily Trust (Nigeria): Offiong interview with Ayo Aina

The Daily Trust's Adie Vanessa Offiong has interviewed the sculptor Ayo Aina in September when I was just about to revive this blog (here's the link). I've just realised that some of the links to Nigerian sites in my old posts don't work anymore, so I give the full interview here in the hope that my blog outlives those links.

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.

The Mojo Gallery provides more information on Ayo Aina.

Daily Trust (Nigeria): IICD Artists in Residence Open Studio

The Daily Trust ran an article on the artists taking part in the International Art Residency programme of the International Institute for Creative Development in Abuja and their meeting with Professor Jerry Buhari – whose work I really like and who is as kind and generous a man. The article quotes him saying that

'In sharing ideas here, we connect not just on art, but globally, culturally, and are looking at the diversity of experience and differences in geographical experiences.

I started by showing one of my performances which is one of my current directions. In ‘Man and Earth,’ I was exploring the relationship between the human and environment where I picked elements like prayer, ablution and so on. The whole idea is to cause man to see the need to realize that he is a gardener.'

In case you're interested – and happen to be in the vicinity of Abuja : IICD's artists in residence have open studio on 19 November 2016 from 3pm at 4 Oguda Close off lake Chad Crescent, Maitama Abuja.

Conversation with El Anatsui @ NPR

Snippets of a conversation with the El Anatsui.

"In Africa, we do art for contemplation only," he says. "There is music that you don't dance to; you listen to it. There are people who appreciate the art for its own sake."

“Every one of us has an artist in us. Really, some might be asleep and some are fully awake, you know. So I think I have a kind of commitment to waking up some people in whom it is asleep. Teaching, my work is still teaching.”

By Vivian Goodman

You can listen to the conversation (c.5mins) or read the transcript on the website of the NPR.

CCA, Lagos: Art-iculate Lectures Series, Spring 2011

In my inbox this morning …

Art-iculate Lectures Series, Spring 2011

In 2008, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos began the Art-iculate Lecture Series to increase dialogue, encourage debate and stimulate exchange in visual art and culture in Nigeria. By prioritising the provision of an independent discursive platform through our public programmes, we actively encourage the development of critical perspectives as well as engage with topical issues that affect our society specifically as well as the world at large. To much acclaim, Art-iculate has featured lectures and presentations by Slyvester Ogbechie (U.C, Santa Barbara), Didier Schaub (Doual'Art, Cameroon), Solange Farkas (Videobrasil, Sao Paulo), Yacouba Konate (University of Abidjan), Monna Mokoena (MOMO Gallery, Johannesburg), Shahidul Alam (Drik Agency, Dhaka) and Chika Okeke-Agulu (Princeton University), amongst others.

Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 4:00 p.m.

Venue: Terra Kulture, 1376 Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island

CURATOR TALK

Kristina Van Dyke

Kristina Van Dyke is Curator for Collections and Research at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, where she co-manages the curatorial department and oversees the museum's archives, library, and exhibitions department. She received her M.A. from Williams College and her Ph.D. from Harvard University, writing her dissertation on the nature of representation in the oral cultures of Mali. Since arriving at the Menil in 2005, she has curated Insistent Objects: David Levinthal's Blackface, Chance Encounters: the Formation of the de Menils' African Collection, and Body in Fragments. In 2008, she reinstalled the African galleries and published African Art from the Menil Collection.

Kristina Van Dyke will provide an illustrated overview of The Menil Collection's history and discuss its unique curatorial philosophy. She is currently developing three research projects: a study of Malian antiquities and cultural heritage issues; an exhibition exploring skull imagery in sculpture from Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon; and an exhibition on the theme of love and Africa.

ARTIST TALK

Yinka Shonibare, MBE

Internationally acclaimed Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE will discuss his artistic trajectory over the past two decades, presenting key themes from his vast and diverse artistic practice.

Yinka Shonibare, MBE was born in London and moved to Lagos, Nigeria at the age of three. He returned to London to study Fine Art first at Byam Shaw College of Art (now Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) and later at Goldsmiths College, where he received his MFA-graduating as part of the ‘Young British Artists' generation. Shonibare has become well known for his exploration of colonial and post-colonial themes. His work explores these issues through the media of painting, sculpture, photography and, more recently, film and performance. With this wide range of media, Shonibare examines in particular the construction of identity and the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe. Having described himself as a ‘post-colonial' hybrid, Shonibare questions the meaning of cultural and national definitions. In 2004 Shonibare was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and in 2009 he won a commission for the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, for which he unveiled in 2010 a scale model of Nelson's ship HMS Victory in a bottle. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennial and internationally at leading museums worldwide.

This edition of Art-iculate is supported by Shonibare Studio, The Menil Collection and Terra Kulture.

Shonibare's visit is supported by The Menil Collection, Houston and is part of the preliminary research for work to be presented in the forthcoming exhibition Love and Africa (2012–13) taking place in Houston and Lagos in collaboration with CCA, Lagos.

For inquiries, please contact info@ccalagos.org, or visit www.ccalagos.org.

Ugandan Former Child Soldier and UgandanArtist Peter Oloya on Art for Peace

Having shared with you a recent essay about political art the other day, this seems the appropriate follow up: Peter Oloya, a Ugandan former child soldier and artist currently in Lagos, Nigeria, using his art to promote peace and healing.

Art for peace

By Obidike Okafor

Next Magazine, March 6, 2011 12:31AM

Peter Oloya is a Ugandan artist with a troubled past. The former child soldier dropped his gun for weapons of art and has been painting, drawing and making sculptures since then. The graduate of Ugandan’s famous Makerere University where he studied his art experienced firsthand, the over two decades of war between the Lords Resistant Army (LRA) rebels and Uganda government that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead. “I lost 21 relatives. I and my mother were abducted by the LRA, I was 11 years old. I survived death as a child soldier and managed to escape after 20 months. With what I now call my trauma as a loner, I discovered my artistic talent and worked as a self taught commercial wood carver and supported my family and saved money to study art. Art has restructured my life and those around me” he said.

[…]

Moved by the suffering of the youths in Internally Displaced Persons camps in the face of war in northern Uganda Oloya wanted do something, so he used art as his medium for social change. “Art restructured my life. I lost my childhood and teenage stage of life growing up amidst war but I can prevent someone from walking down my painful path. And since art gives me hope and reasons to live, I decided to be a source of change in the lives of many. It is on this basis that in 2004 I founded Art for Community Development, a community based organisation operating in Kitgum and Gulu Districts in Northern Uganda to provide psychosocial support, life skills training in art and craft, to the formerly abducted and disadvantaged youths at the grassroot,” he said.

[…]

Oloya had selected Nigeria as his destination after he was awarded the residency, because he saw similarities between the outbreak of violence in Jos and that in Northern Uganda where he was raised. … “I am deeply touched by the conflicts in Nigeria and Sudan. In relation to my experience in northern Uganda, I want to be part of the peaceful solutions in Nigeria and Africa at large. Out of interest, I chose to be part of the change I see. I am working on a peace art project themed ‘Nigeria: Towards a Culture of Peace, Unity, Non-violence and Co-existence’ with selected artists, members of the wider community , from both the Moslem and Christian faiths, from northern and southern Nigeria to promote the culture of peace, non violence and co-existence of Moslems and Christians in Nigeria,” Oloya stated. He also hopes that the message will ring in the hearts of other Africans across the continent. ...

Oloya will give a talk at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos and take part in an art peace project in Nigeria called Hope and Despair. This sounds like a worthwhile project to promote. If anybody has more information pls. let me know and I’ll update this blog accordingly.

The Tate Modern's Kerryn Greenberg in Lagos

I already told you about last autumn’s symposium Curating in Africa at Tate Modern and the videos documenting the event at the Tate’s video channel. So, I naturally assume, that you will be interested in the organiser Kerryn Greenberg return visit to the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Lagos. Here’s what Next had to say about it:

With love from the Tate

By Obidike Okafor,

Next, February 19, 2011 04:09AM

United Kingdom-based South African curator, Kerryn Greenberg, held a session with members of the art community at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Yaba, Lagos on February 10. She shared her experiences and the aspirations for one of the major art institutions in Britain, the Tate Modern, where she works. Her talk, centred on plans for African artists on the continent and those in the Diaspora, was delivered to an audience comprising art collectors, students, artists and representatives of the National Gallery of Art.

Greenberg, who was in Nigeria for a two-week residency at the CCA, noted that curating is as essential as the art being displayed. Touching on the objectives of Tate Modern, she disclosed that the museum has realised the importance of expanding its African content after a decade of existence, hence its resolve to have a rich representation of contemporary and modern African art.

Curatorial past

The curator, who has a Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Studies from Bard College, New York and who joined Tate Modern in 2007, also spoke on projects she has handled in the past. They include Frédéric Bruly's ‘Bouabré'; Francis Alÿs' ‘The Story of Deception', John Baldessari's ‘Pure Beauty'; Nicholas Hlobo's ‘Uhambo' and Rothko's ‘The Late Series'.

She also gave insight into the intricacies of curating at the Tate Modern, using Francis Alys' works as an example. She noted that works by the talented artist start with an uncomplicated action either by him or others, which is thereafter documented in a range of media. Greenberg said his work explores issues affecting Latin America and border zones in areas of conflict.

While nothing that Alÿs, uses video projection and film, the curator observed that he also spreads his ideas through postcards, adding that painting and drawing are equally central to his work. Greenberg talked about some of the artist's video installations including ‘Tornado'; ‘The Green Line' and ‘When Faith Moves Mountains'. She disclosed that it was difficult to get the right equipment to screen ‘Tornado' at the Tate Modern because it was shot in high resolution.

Life at the Tate

Taking the audience through the different levels at the UK museum, Greenberg disclosed how each floor affects the artist's showing. "Level Four is for more established artists, while Level Two, Level Three and Level Five are for smaller groups. Emerging international artists are shown on Level Two," she said.

Greenberg whose first African curatorial project was South Africa's Nicholas Hlobo's ‘Uhambo' held on Level Two of the Tate Modern, further disclosed that the exhibition is the first of many that will involve Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora. Tate Modern, she added, will build relationships and show more works from Africa in the near future.

Greenberg also disclosed that she had earlier organised a symposium for African curators including Bisi Silva of the CCA. "I have been having conversations with artists in Lagos. I am always glad to collaborate with my colleagues from the continent," she said.

During the interaction, Bisi Silva wondered what relevant government organisations were doing to support collaborations between Nigerian artists and international organisations. Eze Obizue of the Education and Research Department of the NGA, responded that artists have benefited, as they had been part of Art Expos held in Las Vegas and New York; the Dak'Art biennale in Dakar, Senegal; Lagos International Art Expo and the African Regional Summit on Visual Art (ARESUVA), held in Abuja.

Advising young artists who want to be recognised internationally, Greenberg said, "Artists need to be ambitious, they are not ambitious. When they develop their works, they can find themselves. Apply for residencies, discover possibilities, and keep on trying if you want to grow internationally."