Interviewed by Kangsen Feka Wakai
Palapala talks to Abidemi Olowonira, visual artist from Ikeja, Nigeria whose works have been exhibited in many local galleries and museums in the Houston area. He cites the cacophony of characters, sites and scenes that is Ikeja as a primary influence. Olowonira is responsible for some of the in-your-face visuals that grace the cover art for many dozens of writers on the other side of his border, English-speaking Cameroon. Abidemi is a drummer and alum of the Wonlande West African Dance and Drum Co. He lives in Houston
Here are excerpts of a fascinating conversation on the role of art in reviving collective memory in Africa.
Palapala: Some have called this era the hour of forgetfulness. One might even suggest that Africa is in a different era, stubbornly holding on to its worldview where memory or remembrance is prominent. But then, we are bound to this world even though we are not sharing its bounty. What is your role as an African artist, an outsider to the West, in combating ‘forgetfulness’?
ANS: One cannot get entangled in forgetfulness because of the issues confronting Africa today. Actually, forgetfulness is sort of impossible because the western media is always eager to remind you of crisis in Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, Chad etc.
As an artist you really don't have a choice in the matter but to address those issues. You must clarify them. You can't just base your work on what the media in the west propagates knowing that the west is responsible for Africa's current predicament. At the same time you must chronicle them so they become a source of reference to another generation in order for them to improve their situation.
Palapala: What is your position on 'remembrance' in the African worldview and the contemporary African artist’s role in the ‘remembrance’ project?
ANS: Remembrance has always been a binding factor in African societies. A lot of Africans are named after their ancestors and events that occurred around the time the child was born. So, as the child grows, he or she becomes a walking reminder of a particular incident or a particular ancestor. In contrast to the west where everything is fast, Africa retains its past.
When you consider the trauma of slavery and colonialism on Africa it is very difficult for the African artist not to make remembrance an aspect of their work. Personally, even though i address 'in-the-moment' experiences i still pull a lot of inspiration from my childhood experiences and my parents experiences, retained through stories.In fact, i also get inspiration from my grandmother's experiences. For instance, i use the 'bush lamp' in my paintings as a symbol from a parable my grandmother shared with me: "The person who turns on the light is a hero but the one who turns it off is the villain." At night in African markets, people use the 'bush lamp' to sell their wares. I think it is a way for us to retain our humanity in spite of our circumstances. Light becomes a significant symbol in our experience. When you see a bush lamp at night it symbolizes life, security and hope. So, if those lights are extinguished, they'll be chaos because that is the only way people can identify a path on which they can walk. I use light in my paintings to illustrate its importance in the African experience.
Palapala: A few years ago, a Tanzanian friend, an artist, and I visited to the Menil Collection in Houston. They were showcasing the Menil's extensive collection of African artifacts. Some of these items were sacred. I could sense it. The discomfort was disarming and uncomfortable. I got sick thereafter. Call me superstitious but I am convinced spirits were at work. What is your take on this exhibitionism of sacred artifacts in the name of anthropological art today?
ANS: I do not consider those items art and they do not belong in whatever place they put it in. Your example illustrates my point. These items are not mere objects. Cameras and books are objects and serve a purpose. But those so-called artifacts also serve a purpose. They are more than art. Some are used for healing and other purposes. When westerners use them in the context of art, their purpose is turned 'upside down'. It is destructive to the psyche of those who create them. It doesn't serve the interest of those who created them and for those misusing today. I actually think they should be destroyed. Because some of those items have been in museums for long they have lost their value and purpose for those who created them.
Palapala: I agree with you. I think the desecration of our religious props is extremely disrespectful.
ANS: It is disrespectful especially in the way they define these items. When you approach a work of art you seek meaning. In short, every work of art conveys a message but those religious items do not convey the kind of message a sculptor is sending when he creates a sculpture in his studio. Those items are for spiritual purposes. For example, in one of my art courses, we were required to visit a museum and write a report on one Nkondi sculpture from the Congo. We had to describe the piece. It was human-like with a mirror on its abdomen and nails protruding from all parts of its body. From my understanding, those nails represent attempts at eradicating a particular individual from different diseases in a lot of African cultures. They do a ritual and nail the sculpture where instead of the individual bearing the pain during the healing process it is done through to the sculpture. That sculpture had hundreds of nails on it. I knew what it represented. I didn't even get close to it. My point is that the museum considers it a work of art and it is not. Even though i knew it was not art, for the sake of the class i had to pretend as if it was art so i could get a passing grade.
Palapala: You cite an example that is a feature that characterizes the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor. In the battlefield of ideas, the winner defines and re-defines the loser. These days, art is the most democratic medium at our disposal as Africans. So, how can art become a weapon in the ensuing battle of ideas?
ANS: As you are aware, there is no word for 'art' in most African languages. But today it has become a weapon in our struggle. African parables and metaphors escape western understanding, especially our oral or spoken word tradition. In Yoruba they call it Ewi. When a Yoruba starts reciting 'ewi', they can use one word to describe the entire world but when it is translated into the English language it loses its potency and in certain cases its relevance. Westerners cannot understand this irrespective of how much they claim to understand Africa. But because it is a part of us we understand these metaphors.
Let us take the case of Fela Kuti who wasn't just a musician. In traditional Yoruba society, he would be considered a combination of elewi and elefe. As you know, Fela had a way of using the spoken word to challenge the status quo. He was never direct. He was always using parables as a vehicle for ridicule. In his song CBB (Confusion Break Bone), he uses the notorious Ojuelegba area in Lagos to demonstrate the chaos and confusion that reigns over Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Most Nigerians know of Ojuelegba and by Fela likening our collective situation to that of that enclave, he is able to effectively illustrate the confusion colonial powers started by creating these nations that we now occupy.
I grew up in Ikeja where my grandmother always had a kiosk. The kiosk owners set up in front of the shop owners while the street hawkers go back and forth in front of the kiosk owners. These three layers, the shop-owners, kiosk owners and hawkers are all part of a system. The competition is intense. The hawkers are more accessible to the customers than the kiosk owners and shop-owners. The prices vary at every level. In order to compete, sometimes the shop owners have to sell their items on the street. But then, there is also the local government council responsible for enforcing the law. Their targets are usually the hawkers or kiosk owners who could be legal or illegal depending on the arrangement with the landlord or resident shop-owner. The council officials are supposed to seize and burn commodities and arrest violators. The lack of social or economic programs to address their lot leaves the violators no choice but to hawk to earn a living. When they are arrested and eventually released, they return to the same area and continue the same activity. It is a never-ending cycle.
In Fela's CBB, he addresses that aspect of the African tragedy whereby we create laws without giving citizens incentives to abide by them. Actually, some of those laws that we inherited were not created in our best interest. He talks about how the government destroys the items of those who are trying to survive instead of developing initiatives to address unemployment. Instead of building structures to accommodate these people they destroy their property and arrest them. In fact, those items that were burnt are losses for the entire economy. In doing so, they violate their own laws. They haven't created markets for the produce; they destroy valuable items and detain citizens who in most cases do not have bail money. It is this confusion in African society that Fela and other artist address. That is what our generation of artists has inherited. However, instead of the situation getting better it is getting worse. There are still hungry people and hawkers being bullied by the military and the police on Africa's streets. These are the issues we have to deal with.
My responsibility as an artist is to look into the issues, address them and most importantly to archive them because archiving will be a first step toward resolution.
Palapala: You are an African resident in the West. Who do you address when most of your work, even though addressing African issues, will most likely be exhibited in Houston, not Ibadan? What is the future of African art especially in this age of geographical and mental displacement?
ANS: There is no doubt that there is displacement in the continent of Africa. When displacement occurs, it doesn't matter if you are an artist, lawyer, doctor or philosopher. But at the same time we are also aware of the contributions Africans in their state of displacement have made in the world like the Soyinkas, Achebes and Osundares. They have placed significant roles in the different environments that hosted them during displacement.
We didn't leave home by choice but just realized our problems were getting worse. And in order for us to seek solutions to our problems, some of us have to step out and look at the problems from a different angle. I believe we are performing our roles here in much the same way, as we would back home. Therefore, displacement is not really a [negative] factor for the African artist, or should i say the artist from Africa. Instead, displacement gives us more control over the way our story is told.
This interview, when it takes on the desacralization of african cosmic art, reminds of the the mockery that the Nso people always make of the Bamuns whom they mock for exposing their sacred cult jujus in the royal museums for the uninitiated to see; a show that is cultural anathema in Nso: no uninitiated can see the removed paraphernalia of the Nwerong or Ngiri cult societies! These are not simply garbs and sculptures for spectacle, they are cosmic,esoteric, metaphysical energies and symbols that heal, protect or wreak malediction. And it's no fiction. But these potencies are only efficient with the corresponding sacralisation that these objects and symbols are held with: a desecration of these as mere anthropological art(ifacts)annihilates their mystic potency! Those who are Roman Catholics can easily access this reality: rituals in this church has determined hagiological potencies, turned incense, holy water etc from mere matter to healing and protective fetish...And this is not mere fiction/superstition!
Posted by: WGB | February 16, 2009 at 07:32 AM