GOING SOUTH

“Art is a gift of loneliness,” said the Abatete-born octogenarian who is a painter and art historian with a teaching career that spans almost half a century responding to a question about his journey as an artist. The air of excitement warmed by a deep desire to share that hit our faces as we arrived his office at the visual arts department of the Cross Rivers State University of Technology (CRUTECH), Calabar, continued in endless stream throughout the interview.

The scene was akin to the site of a volcanic eruption with magma flowing endlessly free of the wedges of nature. Art history has been his specialty since completing his masters studies at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1974. He was there with the ‘Zaria Rebels,’ an appellation that some scholars have frowned at because of what they believe is its misrepresentation of the aim of the Zaria Art Society members and may have been a colonial construct to label them as renegades.

This group it is widely believed had sown the seed for what is known as contemporary Nigerian art. However, Professor Aniakor, who sat quietly on a chair in the corridor in front of his office does not entirely agree with the narrative. He posits that the approach to studies on the Zaria Art Society has become less theoretical and dangerously leading to the proliferation of wrong data. Art history, according to him, is “evidential,” stressing the need to interview the main actors, some of whom are deceased, and source information from contemporaries who may or may not be in Zaria at the time. He also disclosed his work in Uli art stating that the art was a form of writing and that the Uli artists were communicating, “recording environment, people and experience.” The Uli artists he said were, “conscious adepts who knew what they were doing.” He also spoke about his work on a study of the serpentine writing among the Igbo and certain tribes of the old eastern region.

 Asserting that, “there is no reality anywhere,” he took our minds back to Aba where we had interviewed Mr. Tony Akudinobi a day earlier. Defining beauty, Mr. Tony Akudinobi whose company, Hammer Head Limited, produces wooden chairs with beautiful carvings of traditional African motifs and symbols, said, “. . . an object shinning in interactive light losing physicality ascending in inexplicable magnitudes to be beautiful.” This, he assures, is his philosophy. His Ethnika designs have featured in major exhibitions both locally and internationally including the Dubai Art Week. Mr. Tony Akudinobi epitomizes a nexus of genres with his unique style of rendering his works. Each chair has what he calls “verbals,” usually a poem, which he described as  “consecration to the visuals,” that relays the main idea of the work.

Dr. Hyacinth Chidozie Ngumah did not hide his displeasure with the Zaria Rebel tag for the Zaria Arts Society members. He described it as derogatory recalling how his mentor, late Dr. Felix Ekeada would hesitantly reprimand anyone who used the appellation around him. According to him, Dr. Felix Ekeada believed that the phrase was coined with the intention to mislead by creating misconceptions in the mind of the public of the true intent of the art movement pioneered by the Zaria Art Society at the time. Organically convened in 1958 on the idea of natural synthesis proposed by late Prof. Uche Okeke who has been variously described as the founder of the group, the Zaria Art Society sought to free African artistic tradition and ideas from the strangling grip of western artistic influence.

 Enugu waited with all its misty glory across the ridge of hills that line its corridor as we returned our luggage to the boot of the Pathfinder, the SUV that was our worthy chariot during the ten days study tour. The cold replayed scenes of Abuja mornings – their enveloping chills and the busy humanity that resonate behind clothes in shivery mold. We arrived in Enugu in good time to drive down to Abakpa to see Gentleman Chief Mike Ejeagha, Nigeria’s foremost folklore musician. However, the interview could not hold until two days later. But, between the hours of our arrival and his interview, we met two remarkable artists – a professor and a poet.

 Professor Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi sat behind a desk at his art gallery on Zik’s Avenue burning with bright colours of youth. The desk had carved him a buffer away from the upcycled metal work in the middle of the room. The Uli inscriptions on a board at the far right end of the room called tales of the original Uli artists whose work he believes were more than writing but a form of decoration from their graves. His views the inclusion of Uli art in his works as a means of communicating with the past describing it as an idiolect. Referring to Professor Aniakor’s pioneering role in the study of Uli art, he said that Professor Aniakor can best be described as the ‘megaphone of the Uli philosophy.’ He expressed his concern for the dearth of scholarly depth in the practice of art history in Nigeria stating that the problem with scholarship is the lack of proper training of students in the art of communicating their thoughts. Students so trained eventually graduate to become art historians who are not ‘real communicators of artistic thoughts.’ He emphasized the need therefore for teachers and students to pay attention to teaching and learning the art of writing respectively. Reiterating, he said that each scholarly article for instance must be well researched and should be properly communicated so as to withstand the darts of debate and criticism by other scholars. On his relationship with late Professor Uche Okeke, he described himself as a great grandson of Professor Uche Okeke stating that he had not met the don as a direct mentor but had trained under other scholars who grew under his tutelage. Speaking on his philosophy, he said that a fine artist should be able to express himself in a wide range of ways in order to reach a wider varied audience. In a manner reminiscent of an artistic ideological collusion, probably fermented prior to our visit to Zik’s Avenue and Emene that day, Amarachi Atama began on a similar note.

 Still in recovery from a recent bereavement, she found her voice as she unwrapped her journey sitting on a chair in her artsy living room where Nsibidi called our eyes to their meanings in framed portraits on the wall. The Enugu state-born performance poet who holds a masters degree in mass communication and worked as a presenter with the Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS), is also the Executive Director of Nwadioramma Concepts and the founder of Oja Cultural Festival. Her foray into the rarely traveled path of Igbo poetry was inspired by the realization of a threat of extinction to the Igbo language. A journey that has all the markings of a tough trip. Today, she is one of the biggest names in the genre with perhaps has the largest collection of laurels. Her greatest achievement, she says, is the promotion of the Igbo language and poetry through performances at locations outside Nigeria.

About fourteen hours later, we were seated at the home of Gentleman Chief Mike Ejeagha, the nonagenarian whose music can be described as a museum of Igbo ideological thought. This time to interview him. From an early exposure to storytelling sitting at the feet of his mother under the rain of moonlight like his peers in Igbo land to his days growing up at Coal Camp, Enugu, to his admiration of Patrick Okwunazu’s music which was story-based, he recounted his journey. His philosophy is founded on “live and let live,” a major ideological base of the Igbo people which  encourages good relations between neighbours. He took us further into his journey dropping lessons into our young minds from his grey hair. We admired his honesty and his brisk sense of detail. By the time we emerged from the stairs, we felt the weight on our feet. It was of the desire to listen for more wisdom from this man whose life has brightened ours in nearly two hours of sincere disclosure.

As we drove out of Enugu the next morning, we felt a heavy load in our hearts. No, it was not pain or the lusty dance of anguish. It was a feeling of fulfilment that an assignment has been done. Though there were challenges and appointments we could not make due to COVID-19, our desire to seek authentic information for our work following a “marching order” from the consortium of experts at our Zoom pally in December, had been met by a few laps. As an art institution, we believe in the gathering and dissemination of valid verifiable data for the purposes of study. This is the reason we embarked on this tiring but, enriching journey to some south east and south south states to meet real actors in the Nigerian art scene for a soul trip. Though Professor Aniakor has said in that his landmark declaration that, “there is no reality anywhere,” we shall journey again. And maybe, we will find it. This was the feeling we had when we arrived at City Gate. We took a deep breath of home knowing that home was still somewhere out there beyond the hills and valleys of the molten distance that reassembled behind us. Yes, we have gone south.

Agu, Prince Osinayah (happyprince),

Project Assistant.

IICDCENTER, Abuja.

Note: Sculpture by Late Dr. Ekeada, Title: UNITY, Year: 1984.

This project is made possible by Funds from EUNIC clusters of Abuja and Lagos (now EUNIC cluster Nigeria).