Democracy, an exhibition by three Nigerian artists, remembers the past, questions the present and worries about the future
By Sylvester Asoya
Bisi Silva may not have the same screen visibility as actress sister, Joke Jacobs. Despite the disparity in fame, the two women have a lot in common.Like Joke, Bisi is passionate about the arts, specifically, visual arts.
The political side of Bisi’s art has already inspired three exhibitions. The inaugural one, which ran between 8 December 2007 and 20 January 2008, captured the social and political struggles of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti through the creative innovation of Lemi Ghariokwu, Fela’s album sleeve designer. Entitled Fela, Ghariokwu Lemi and the Art of The Album Cover, the exhibition raised issues on human rights, abuse of office, corruption and other related issues that occupied Fela throughout his life and career.
But why Fela and democracy? Bisi told TheNEWS that Fela and democracy are two very interesting subjects that will continue to interest anybody who is genuinely concerned about Nigeria and her survival. For her, Fela was the quintessential activist who spent his entire life fighting and drawing society’s attention to the monumental fraud and deceit that characterised government business since independence. “I feel we need to look at Fela’s works again in a critical non-emotional manner. As a matter of fact, Nigerians must start looking at Fela’s work and the important role they play within the political and cultural system,” Silva said.
She added hat there could not have been a better time to talk about democracy. “Last year, a general election held in Nigeria and people were ‘elected’. But do we really understand the meaning of democracy,” she asked. According to her, she actually wanted to exhibit democracy within an exhibition format, principally to show that Nigeria’s brand of democracy is not only crazy, according to Fela, but also unworkable. Ghariokwu did over 26 album covers for Fela between 1974 and 1992. The artist, who has passed on his brush cartoon-like illustrations to a new generation of musicians, displayed these vintage works of old during the exhibition.
Last month, Ndidi Dike’s Waka-Into-Bondage, another exhibition that examined the history and legacy of slavery, took centre stage. Dike, a 1984 graduate of Fine and Applied Art of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and well known for her sculptural practice, provides traces and memories on the slave trade with her masterpieces. This is in addition to using symbols and memorabilia like blood, slave chains, sugar, manilla and branding irons to capture the era.
Again, Silva intended to explain why Africa has refused to develop many years after independence. “We wanted to go back into history to know why we are the way we are. If you look back at slavery, over 300 years ago, between 21 and 40 million Africans were taken out of this continent. This was a depopulation of a continent. If it happens anywhere today, it will leave a big gap. It will have adverse effects on the social, political and economic fabric of that nation. They used us as unpaid labour to develop their society. So it goes without saying that Africa developed the West. This is no longer contested because it is fact that is now available in books,” she explained.
The third and final part of the democracy trilogy is entitled Paradise Lost: Revisiting The Niger Delta. According to Silva, this is a powerful photographic exhibition that explores the activities of both the people of Niger Delta and the multi-national oil companies in the area. This once beautiful region, which provides 95 per cent of Nigeria’s wealth, has now been turned into a wasteland. Today, the area is not only reputed for violence and hostage taking but also for other criminal activities and the worst environmental problems in the world. These images of the Niger Delta are a reminder of how wrong things have gone.
But Silva is hopeful. For her, the future starts now and the arts hold the key. Aside from her desire to continually express her thoughts and the thoughts of other like-minded artists through the medium of visual art, she is also building local and international partnerships to fulfil her dream. Part of this partnership building is the Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, which she founded last December.
According to Silva, CCA is an alternative space, a place where stakeholders will regularly investigate some of the most important things and issues of this generation. “Our mission is to critically examine these contempory issues through art. We want to organise intellectual debates to show that art can go beyond the market place. We need to show the world that we are a vibrant society in transition by showing the conflicts between the modern and traditional periods, which make Nigeria such a vibrant place to live. And we want to do all of these through art, film and discussion,” she said.
The centre is also an exhibition space. But the starting point of the CCA is actually the library. This is where people are regularly invited to consult the over 2000 books and periodicals on arts and culture. She hopes that in the near future, the number of books would increase so that the centre can actually become a substantial arts resource and documentation centre, which was part of the original plan that inspired CCA. A place where scholars can come and learn about Nigeria.
Last month, the centre held a seminar on the Norwegian orator, Stina Hogkvist and Managing Nigeria’s Cultural Patrimony: The Need for Social Entrepreneurs, which was delivered by Sylvester Okwunodu, an associate professor of Art History at the University of Santa Barbara, United States. Okwunodu, author of a new book, Ben Enwonwu: Making of An African Modernist, spoke eloquently on entrepreneurial models to the management of African cultural heritage in a new age.
Despite all these efforts from the arts and culture sector, Bisi believes a true and meaningful change can only come when the ruling class decides to do what is right. An era that will usher in a truly representative government built on democracy, not the democracy of today that is characterised by looting, selling of the commonwealth, election rigging, godfatherism and fuel scarcity, among other ills.
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