With an ongoing retrospective exhibition, which ends on August 13, on the life and work of Chief Dr Nike Okundaye, the Yaba Art Museum extends its advocacy on gender issues Okechukwu Uwaezuoke reports
Subtle impressions close in on the viewer and overwhelm him. Emanating from the exhibition’s diverse offerings – which include paintings, sculptural and video installations and slide presentations, among others – they surge forward from all corners of the extensive well-lit cavernous museum’s exhibition hall with white-coated walls.
A few words about this museum, which is tucked away nicely in the basement of a part of the main building that houses the Yaba College of Technology’s School of Art, Design and Printing. It is called the Yaba Art Museum and is currently hosting the exhibition, titled Living Blue! (Nike Monica Okundaye Archive Retrospective). Descent into the exhibition hall leads visitors through a spiralling staircase, which already inwardly prepares them for an inspiring experience.
As for the exhibition, it was opened on Tuesday, June 29, with a lavish ceremony that chimed well with the effervescent disposition of the remarkable matriarch of contemporary Nigerian art, who turned 70 on Sunday, May 23. Open until Friday, August 13, it is open every day to the public from 10 am to 5 pm, except Sundays.
Perhaps, no other exhibition in recent memory best proclaims the prolificacy of the woman, who is fondly called “Mama Nike” in the local art circles, like this one, which is curated by Odunayo Orimolade. Nike, whose exploits with textile have become legendary, is oftentimes rarely – if not grudgingly – acknowledged as a painter. Hence, it should interest the cognoscenti that the exhibition features a treasure trove of her paintings produced not just on batik but also with acrylic, pen and ink and watercolours. In these works, some of which seem to have faded into the mist of oblivion, viewers could glean so much from the artist’s past.
Take the 1991 blue-themed acrylic abstract painting, titled “Beauty of Ages”, for instance. The dark blue gradually lightens up to an illuminating lightness. Through it, the artist metaphorically leads the viewers from the gloomy paths of her early years to the more hopeful and happier experiences of recent years. “Beneath the mask lies my stories of existence,” she writes. “A trip further takes you to the beautiful and ugly paths of life but the good times are always short, yet memories are never forgotten.”
The painting could also allude to the fact that she had emerged from the obscurity of her modest background to the limelight as a world-renowned artist and teacher, who currently lectures at several universities in the US, Canada and the UK, even without a university education. Indeed, the Kogi-born artist was raised in a modest home in the rustic community of Ogidi-Ijumu and clawed her way from out of the depths of the dire circumstances into which fate had placed her. Losing her mother when she was only six years old and her grandmother the following year could have been a setback. But it did not seem enough to extinguish the flame of hope flickering in her resolute soul. Her inner restlessness and longsuffering disposition steeled her for further challenges, which would have caused many in her position to throw up their arms in despair.
Thankfully, the arts – into which she was embedded by the weaving of fate – offered her the much-desired solace. Through her great-grandmother, who was the head of all the craftswomen in Ogidi-Ijumu, she learnt what she needed to learn about weaving textiles and making adire fabrics. Also, both her mother and late aunt, who eventually raised her, as well as her father were known to be arts-inclined. So, even when she could no longer continue her formal education on account of her prevailing unfavourable circumstances, she never gave up her passion for the arts.
So, the arts welcomed her in its embrace after her escape from home at the age of 14 to evade what could have been an underage marriage to a junior government minister. From an initial stint with a travelling theatre company, Olosunta Travelling Theatre, she later found her way to Osogbo, where she encountered the Beiers: Ulli and his English-born wife Georgina.
It was in this southwestern Nigerian city that she learnt the art of indigo-dyeing and adire-making from the town’s informal art school and met her first husband Omooba Taiwo Olaniyi Oyewale-Toyeje Oyelale Osuntoki, who was more popularly known as “Twins Seven-Seven”. Of course, many would wish to discern in her embroidery work, titled “Osun”, which was produced in 1972, the memories of this distant period.
As for the other work, “The Finger that Feeds, Never Lacks” II, also produced in 1972, it most likely highlights the guiding principles of this woman who holds two major chieftaincy titles – the Yeye Oba of Ogidi-Ijumu and the Yeye Tasase of Osogbo – and has trained over 3 000 young Nigerians for free in the visual, musical and performing arts in her four art centres in Lagos, Osogbo, Abuja and her hometown, Ogidi-Ijumu.
Thanks to her steadfast diligence, amiable disposition and marketing skills, she easily asserted herself in the highly competitive art circles. This was enough for her to be recognised and selected as one of the 10 African artists who were to teach traditional weaving in the US. The trip, which was her first outside Nigeria, had availed her the opportunity to visit museums and learning new skills, which included quilt-making.
Described by the exhibition’s curator as “a beacon of hope and help to many through her activities and expressions”, Nike is easily one of the most easily celebrated personalities in the art scene. This is corroborated by a section of the exhibition that displays newspaper and magazine cuttings featuring articles on her as well as academic writings about her. Little wonder she was deemed the Yaba Art Museum’s poster girl for its SHGBV (Sexual Harassment and other forms of Gender-Based) prohibition policy. “This particularly because of her heavy involvement with social justice for women and girls by promoting girls in the society and her efforts to educate and emancipate young girls out of mostly dire situations stemming from her own experience,” the curatorial information adds.
Living Blue’s spectacular display of elaborate headgears – called “Gele” in the local vernacular – and beaded hunters’ jackets are complemented by her rich assortment of watercolour paintings and drawings and her beadworks. About the latter, the artist says: “At night, I do my beadwork. I spend three hours every night doing that. I tell younger people that culture is my heritage. In those days when there was no telephone, people talk through their textile. That is what I am still portraying to younger people.”
Indeed, other works like the 2001 acrylic painting “Osun Festival”, the 1980 mixed-media work “Beauty of Supper” and the 2001 acrylic paintings “Moment of Joy”, “Circle of Life” and “Happy Days” and the 1984 pen and ink on paper works “Faithful” and “Fertility” alongside a host of others, can be likened to snapshots of the memorable moments in her life’s experiences.
As currently one of the most sought-after artists by the local Caucasian collectors, she has participated in exhibitions held within and outside Nigeria. In addition, her works can be found in such prestigious collections as those of The Smithsonian Museum, the Gallery of African Art and The British Library, in London as well as that of a former US vice-president, Walter Mondale, among other high-profile collections worldwide.
