Artsdiscourse

Behind your camera   You saw us   At the heart of your lens   We are imprisoned Our nudity, our ensemble   Our demeanour, our charisma   Our physiognomy, our nerd   Immortalized by you Time will change   Moments will pass   We will exist   As objects of immortality Are we the products of art? Or the producers? Or objects of possession? Are we   models or prisoners ? Photo credit: Foto Afrik 

Strands of feathers, homogeneous, co-exists in a mutual habitation of domestic field, dominated by the creatures of the last day. Each symbolizes daily experiences accumulated through bush hunt, humanistic chase, pursuit of opposite sex, dominance of the surrounding milieu and the constant picking of food stuffs. Strands of feathers, clothes in disguise, through which the fowl is protected in the scorching sun and the chilling winter. Strands of feathers, an emblem of beauty, through which the fowl's inner quality radiates and answers the gracious call to fly and perch on the rigid-flexible surface of the earth. It embodies wisdom, insight, knowledge, fears, tears and bravery across time. Strands of feathers, a cloth of many colours, one among the beautiful crests of creation, a culmination of ancient and contemporary wisdom; the protector of its host.  

How I long to be As wise as you! How I desire to be  As logical as you! You are the encyclopedia of history The dictionary of the universe The thesaurus of the earth Sixteen cowries, sixteen pillars Sixteen eulogies, a template Hidden in your sight? Nothing Requests? Answered Difficulties? Solved I have listened to your panegyrics I have seen the horizons of your wisdom I have seen your compassion I am in awe of you.

My beloved house has treated me thus It has led me on the back of the wheels Ocean from my eyes Farewell, I bid. They exist in my head The slaughtering, killing, butchering, Murder. Heads assembled on the mattress Wrappers, west Scarfs, east Breast, dangled. Ahead is a lion Behind is a crocodile Where do I go? Where do I stay? There is no home Just a space to occupy For today I exist Tomorrow I know not.

We are the first born of men We are the model of culture We are the power of the future We were subjugated Tortured, beaten, degraded Devalued, denigrated, starved. Alien cultures imprisoned us White complexions enslaved us We denied not our etymology Away from home Stripped of ancestral elements We became embodiments of culture. Firmly, we held to our creed; "Black is not a colour. It's an attitude A mindset, a way of life." We are Africa.

If one is to judge from the turbulent storm of constant death that has been kidnapping key players in the Nigerian art world, one would say that the art world needs to beef up security against the timeless messenger- death, but how can one guard against an enemy he do not see? Earlier this year, a pseudo-minimalist and metaphorical artist who clothed everyday experiences with idioms in the rendition and delivery of his art answered the gracious home call to hide behind robust visual images and kiss the dust; Ben Osaghae was indeed a lion in the field of art. What can one say about a situation that do not allow one to bid farewell to his beloved people who has engraved his name in the slate of their minds and hangs a bell that rings at the mention of his name? It is arguably a fact that many Nigerian artists exist but there is little or no media attention on their efforts and activities in the sustenance of Nigerian artistic voice. Moyo Ogundipe is one of such artists whose art...

The exhibition, titled “Delta Bush Refineries and Other Stories” by Akintunde Akinleye is a collection of life in the Delta. It shed lights into the activities of the people involved in the vandalization of oil pipeline and asks the fundamental question, ‘why are they doing it? The theory of art as expression seems to be the fundamental concetto of execution in the exhibited works of Akintunde Akinleye. The works clarified and refined the ideas and feelings that are shared with the spectator and bluntly tell them the secrets of their own hearts. He did not set out to criminalize the youths who are engaged in the oil bunkering but to bring Nigeria’s inability to address corruption to the limelight. He is concerned about being socially responsible to tell the stories of burning issues in the country.  It is a known fact that Nigeria is endowed with enormous natural resources and crude oil has arguably been a sustaining factor for the country since its discovery in the vi...

The Cultural Centre, Kuto Abeokuta was a rendezvous of creativity from 15 th -19 th November 2016. It was the venue of the much publicized Ake Arts and Books Festival which attracted writers, artists, poets, playwrights, and creative personalities whose sources of livelihood relies on the literary field. At the east side of the venuewas an engaging display of attracting works of art by two visual artists; Fatima Abubakar and Ayobola Kekere-Ekun.The two artists rightly selected their elements and principles of art to initiate curiosity in the spectators and generate an ambience that allows spectators to travel from the world of reality to the island of imaginations. The silent noise made by the works attracted lovers and enthusiasts of visual art to the hall where the works are neatly arranged. Welcoming spectators to the hall are Ayobola Kekere-Ekun’sworks of intricate colours and meticulous execution that hits the retina with a standstill observation. At the other side are F...

In the 19 th century, the English language spread its arms across the world and most of the world’s documentation has been recorded with it. Large parts of the world today found themselves in their English-written histories and thereafter took steps to document in their mother tongues. For local consumption and perusal,African art needemphasis on local dialects. If the account of the history of African art is written in languages that are alien to Africa, how do we give credence to African languages? African art has experienced numerous changes and developments from the dynamic and sophisticated philosophies and concettos of different epochs; from the Neolithic settlement of Egypt to the discovery of Nok, Ife, Benin and Igbo-Ukwu, African art has proved to be a living phenomenon. Historically, the art of Africa was a serious obstacle to colonialism as it was deeply rooted in the daily lives of Africans. The colonial masters thereby took the drastic measures of burning, smas...

There is absolutely a missing link between the value we place on historical artifacts and their preservation in Nigeria. When we advocate the preservation of heritage sites or defend them in the midst of inimicality, we do not justify any anti-human activity that is associated with them. But what we insist upon is that human history is both accomplishment and failure: that history is incomplete without their preservation as professed by Prof. Wole Soyinka. Isn’t it ironical to say that just some weeks after the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed, decried the protection of Nigerian heritage sites as the backbone of the nation’s history, a big catastrophe happened in the South-East part of Nigeria: Governor Rochas Okorocha demolished the Mbari Cultural Centre which holds the etymological anthology of Igbo culture in visual forms and preserves the voices of their ancestors. Why would a political leader who is looked up to as the ambassador of the nation display suc...