The Four Hundred: Lagos’ may be the next artists’ dream destination
EMMANUEL AREWA
Nigeria's global footprint in the art world is just beginning.
A renewed interest in contemporary art in Lagos is sparking creativity in all areas of Nigeria, spans from renovating abandoned buildings into art schools to hosting global collectors and curators at its growing art festival, Art X Lagos.
Virtual reality art installments, one-on-one talks with artists, and immersive exhibitions are some of the video clips that visitors can see the festival has hosted before on its sleek and simplistic website homepage.
And the pandemic did not stop the growing festival from celebrating its fifth year with Art X Live! virtual performances. They displayed musicians and visual artists and webinar sessions in Art C Review, allowing budding artists to ask questions of established artists about their career and art path.
The festival, founded in 2016 by director Tokini Peterside, can be thanked for the refreshed fascination and commitment to revitalizing local artists and creatives.
"There is so much potential for culture to be used as a vehicle to influence people's perceptions of a country, a destination, a civilization," Peterside said in an interview with The Africa Report.
Behind the large-scale art pieces and exhibitions, there is a desperate call to the Nigerian government and wealthy corporate heads to invest more in the arts that surpass just music and film.
Nigeria is home to the second-largest film industry, otherwise coined as 'Nollywood.' The origin of its name is uncertain, but it parallels the boom of film and television in Bali, creating its name from the combination of Bali and Hollywood.
Bollywood is a competitor of Nollywood, being home to the largest film industry in the world. Though film and television are highly regarded in Nigeria, modernist and contemporary artists call for more art education and institutions to be built to preserve the culturally-rich art of local talent.
Wahab Ademola Azeez, a visual artist, critic and lecturer at the Afe Babalola University of Nigeria, explained in an essay that Nigeria lacks the knowledge and education of the fine arts, which could be applied to the evolution of the country.
Azeez argues that art education should be taught in primary and secondary schools to further emphasize the importance of cultural awareness. By allowing for more funding towards art education, Nigeria, Ghana, and other countries can benefit and visualize a more advanced future.
"One hopes that if . . . Art Education is hosted in Africa and especially in Nigeria, there may be some array of hope which can be appropriated by policy makers, art educators, and teacher to reposition the discipline of art education in national development," Azeez writes.
The preservation of art is crucial for the individual artists needing exposure but for the reclamation of Nigerian art to combat the Eurocentric art values that were long held during colonial times.
To them, their expression of art is a way to reinvent and recycle the ancient traditions and textiles, and mediums that are continually evolving in Nigeria and all over the continent.
Nigerian artist Gerald Chukwuma, one of the country's rising contemporary artists, literally recycles items to create his artwork.
Within the mosaic palette featuring deep blues, auburn streaks, and cadmium orange notes, therein lies a combination of different woods and soda cans found on Lagos' streets and trashcans.
Chukwuma gives an ode to the history of traditional uli iconography and Nsibidi symbols to create the full image of his work, while also providing a modernized aesthetic with the unconventional materials he collects for every masterpiece.
In an interview, he told True Africa that he hopes to employ more than 100 budding artists to accompany him in his furniture ventures, creating 'Afro-contemporary' furniture with the similar style he uses to make his mosaics.
And he is not the only one pushing to influence the younger generation of artists to create and give a spotlight to African creatives.
From Lagos to Lekki in Nigeria to Tamale and Accra in Ghana, art institutions are being built to teach and inspire generations to come.
Located in Tamale, Ghana, is the Red Clay studio, an art space created by Ghanian artist Ibrahim Mahama that accompanies the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in 2019.
The aim of the Red Clay studio is to provide young artists with a space to create and bend the bounds of cultural norms and history to develop and produce original work. The building itself gives the nod to the burnt red soil of northern Ghana.
The Red Clay studio is one of the many projects Mahama sees being built in the future, as he looks to other abandoned and underused buildings for places to transform into educational art institutions.
Nigeria's art scene is buzzing with fresh, new creatives excited to show their craft and a network of galleries ready to display it.
For years, commerce, fashion, and film have taken over Nigeria's pop culture scene. However, as described by Art X. Still, as director Tokini Peterside, the cultivation of culturally enriching art is a way to redeem the image of Lagos from the long-held view that it is nothing but corruption and pollution.
It is only a matter of time that Nigerian art will be a significant competitor in the global art race and a destination for visitors worldwide to indulge in the unique work of local African artists.