By Anote Ajeluorou
FOR Nigeria’s art scene to be robust, vibrant and
effectively provide employment for millions of youth, educate and permeate
society as a healing therapy, there’s need for government to play a major role.
Such role, it has been canvased, should include creating Artistic Hubs or
Districts for artists to work and market their products and enacting a piece
federal legislation to establish Artist Registration Council for the regulation
of art practice.
These were some of
the views a major visual artist, Mr. Olu Ajayi offered last week at his new
studio on Military Street, Onikan, Lagos Island. Ajayi was expecting Prof. Wole
Soyinka to pay him a studio visit, but the octogenarian poet and dramatist was
unable to make the visit; no reason was given either. Nevertheless, Ajayi took
the opportunity to address some salient issues regarding art practice in the
country. He particularly tasked the incoming administration of Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari to give the entire arts and culture sector a pride of place for the
sheer socio-economic roles it plays, as the largest informal sector that
actively provides employment for Nigeria’s teeming youth among others.
Ajayi, also the
originator of Living Legends, an artistic project that documents the lives of Nigeria’s
men and women of integrity and honour who have contributed significantly to
society, argued that it was in bad taste for government to continue relegating
arts to the margins. Or for that matter, promote or give priority only to the
film sector of the arts (also known as Nollywood),
as the out-going administration of President Goodluck Jonathan did rather than patronise
the entire sector which includes the visual arts, literature (books), film (Nollywood), theatre and culture
festivals of all descriptions.
The artist with some
30 years experience in studio practice said in spite of the myriads of sectors
like power and the economy crying for attention, which government always
focused on, the arts was no less deserving a look in, as the sector’s record in
engaging Nigerian youth since the inception of this democratic dispensation has
been immense and so could no longer be ignored. On this score, Ajayi said the
tourism sector, which government pays lip-service could only be bolstered by
the amount of quality artistic and cultural products the country could offer
visitors. This, he argued, made it imperative for serious attention to be given
to the country’s arts and culture as catalyst for tourism and economic revival.
Even the Geneva
Convention stipulates that museums should not be targeted for bombing during
wars, a stipulation he said underlay the importance of art to society. He urged
government to see the need to patronise the arts sector for its inherent socio-economic
benefits.
According to Ajayi,
“We’re looking at how we can keep the art community vibrant. What does
political players have for the arts sector? Nollywood
isn’t the only cultural sector. The incoming government should address us.
For instance, Nigeria does not have a proper museum for modern art. And when we
talk about tourism you talk about culture. Modern museums will create proper
outlets for the works of artists, create employment, children get educated and
it serves as tourism destination.
“Also, artists need
seed money as grants to set up art studios. Artists’ hubs or districts should
be set up for artists to practice their trade and market their products. We
need Artist Registration Council; we already approached the National Assembly
to set it up, but they are either naïve or didn’t know the role of arts in
society. They didn’t see the need, which was sad”.
Ajayi also debunked
the often-held notion that art is elitist rather than popular culture that should
be consumed by all segments of society. According to him, “Art has therapeutic
value for everyone in society”.
He, however, said the
persistence of that notion was because of a strangulating economy that has
consigned a large segment of society to eek out a living, which leaves many
with nothing extra to enjoy the simple pleasures that life and art offer. “So,
it becomes a problem as people find it hard to go out and see exhibitions that
are not frequent, anyway,” he surmised. “Nigerians don’t travel because there’s
no extra cash that can be set aside for the purpose”.
On the Living
Legends project, which he said Prof. Soyinka was first to sit for painting,
Ajayi stated that the project’s merits rested in providing role models for
young people through the exemplary lives such subjects have lived to inspire
time honoured values of integrity, honesty and significant contribution to
society. Such subjects must be in their 70s and their contributions must span
40 years of consistent service. At the moment, Ajayi said they were sourcing
for the next candidate, which was proving difficult to find.
So far six such
Nigerians have been captured in painting and sculpture. The last subject was
Gen. Yakubu Gowon. Others are Oba of
Benin, Omo N’oba Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba
Erediauwa, Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yusuf Grillo, Prof. JP Clark and Prof.
Soyinka. Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, Pastor Enoch Adeboye and Chief Emeka Anyaoku
are in the organisers’ radar for imortalising in painting and sculptural works,
as many artists working in the two media work to capture a particular subject
at the same time.
However, Ajayi said
the perennial problem of lack of financial support for artists of various
shades working in the country was a major headache for him and his group in the
Living Legends Project. So far, he noted, the only support they have had was
during the session with Gowon. He, therefore, solicited for support from corporate
bodies as well as public-spirited individuals with love for the arts. He also
stated that the project would soon publish a book compendium of all drawings
and scholarly materials that interact with all the subjects so far captured in
the Living Legends project.
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