By: Chinezim Moghalu Chris
History. Memory. Futurism.
As regards “Nsukka School”, the
first connotes threshold; the nucleus, reminiscence and experience; the last, a
coalescing of aspirations, hope, achievements and manifestations from the
present- coupled with acknowledgement of the obvious challenges that escort
them.
Nsukka School (the department of
Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka) after fifty years, have
witnessed a robust history which formally spans fifty-six years. In this
trajectory, vast significant events and remarkable landmarks have taken place,
which becomes rehashing and exhaustible to list. The Art
School has effortfully and resolutely survived, in a radically and bold
undertone, the coastal and tidal waves that polices an Art School with an
ancestral creative ideology, philosophy and pedagogy which opposes and
confronts Western art pedagogy- the Uli aesthetics.
In like manner, “Nkoli Ka” (recalling is greatest),
becomes a veritable backdrop through which accentuations, peering, critiques,
and conversations into the illustrious experimental vigor, philosophy and
intellectuality of the Nsukka School ensues. (Summarily, Uche Okeke’s
remarkable and ebullient footsteps in reformation of the Department at the turn
of post-Nigerian Civil War, added to employment, propagation and appropriation
of Ulism as an art curriculum remains
astute. Such has however, unarguably, culminated to numerous widely-spread
experimental and scholarly highlights. Yet, from the finishing years of
twentieth century, as S. Vogel (2012) has it, “Anatsui was quietly redirecting
his students toward a more contemporary and conceptual way of working, and away
from Uli painting and the Nsukka
School’s traditional, cultural, almost ethnographic emphasis which was
conceived in the heady 1970s”.
A fusion of these disparate
ideologies by these both artistic icons has resulted to a lasting and notable
impact on artistic practice in Nsukka School and elevates the Nsukka School as an
Eldorado of creative excellence amongst Nigerian Art Schools.
To such extent- the extent where
another ebullient Nsukka School fellow, Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi takes a departure
from late Uche Okeke’s iconoclasm legacy of Ulism
propagation in a modified, modernist mobility that reconciles tradition and
modernity, and Eva Obodo and George Odoh’s maintaining of teaching influence of
El Anatsui’s conceptual, analytic and post-Modernist artistic practice- where
do we situate Nsukka School’s artistic output in futurology? Between both
elevating artistic legacies, which reflects a definitive contemporary African
art practice more? Which makes an apt, consummate contemporary African art?
Organizers of this seminal
celebratory art exhibition, seemingly chose “Nkoli Ka”
as its theme as a point of recollection, reflection and repositioning between its
past, present and future; a suitable juncture to glorify and revere the
achievements of Nsukka School, then a hindsight of its aftermath- possibly a
reflection of apparent challenges that lie ahead.
Having noted that, these eclectic
memories unfalteringly journey us to a consummate purpose why a celebratory
event had to be executed in respect and concert with the fifty years jubilee.
The jubilee exhibition was a
touring one, which journeyed from Nsukka to Abuja and finally to Lagos. It took
place between April and July, 2017.
Its final lap in Lagos, which ran
between 23rd June and 2nd July, 2017 at the LBS building,
Victoria Island, Lagos, brought to mingling aficionados, collectors,
connoisseurs, artists, critics, art historians and curators. The largely
experimental and iconic exhibits showcased mastery pieces by the ‘giant
masquerades’ of the Nsukka School.
Significant events that augmented
and totalized the outing were eulogizing of the “greats” who have brought the
Art School thus far, vote of thanks to the sponsors of the jubilee exhibition,
performances, lectures, panel discussions and award presentations to some of
Nsukka Schools’ scholars for their epochal and invaluable efforts.
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