Sunday 10 June 2018
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Arts Nigerian art sector gains traction with country’s leadership of global art body …Runsewe promises to move WCC headquarters to Abuja, praises tourism writers OBINNA EMELIKE
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or the first time in the history of the Nigerian art sector, a Nigerian was elected as the president of the World Crafts Council (WCC) African Region. The honour and recognition was well-deserving, especially for Olusegun Runsewe, the director general, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), whose efforts at repositioning Nigerian arts and culture, since assuming office last year is recognized even at global level. The development is also applauded and appreciated across the Nigerian art and culture community by stakeholders, government and related agencies because of the huge impact the leadership of WCC by a passionate Nigerian will make in the sector. Known for his passion, Runsewe, who left track records while at the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) as the director general, is working to take advantage of his leadership of WCC to better African arts and craft and Nigeria in particular. Already, he has promised to move the headquarters of WCC to Abuja for sustainable impacts and development of the arts and craft sector. Runsewe is determined to make Nigeria the capital of global crafts and he disclosed his strategies towards achieving the feat to members of the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Editors of Tourism (ANJET) who paid a courtesy visit to his visit in Abuja on Tuesday to felicitate with him on his appointment as President of the World Craft Council (African Region). According to him, the tourism writers have formed the backbone of his many accomplishments in the service, noting that they were also the first professional body to formally congratulate him on his WCC African Region appointment, ‘outside of a couple of government agencies.’ Runsewe who described his appointment as a plus for Nigerian crafts industry as well as its practitioners, added: “This is a big platform for showcasing art and craft. It is big business representing a veritable platform for showcasing Nigeria and its arts and craft industry to the world. “I am moving the headquarters of the WCC to Abuja, and that is one of the tasks I have at hand for now. I have concluded arrangements to that effect and have been given the go-ahead to
Olusegun Runsewe, director general, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) and president, World Crafts Council (WCC), demostrating locally made whistle and ‘shekere’ for use at the World Cup in Russia.
commence the groundwork and when we are through, you shall be the first to know. I can describe myself as the culture’s Clemens Westerhof, who turned the fortunes of Nigerian football and footballers around for good. “Just like our footballers who were not reckoned with outside the shores of the country. Nobody knew them before Clemens Westerhof came to Nigeria. Let me say that with my appointment as the chief executive of the WCC Africa Region, I have come to turn around the fortunes of Nigerian artists and craftsmen who were also not previously reckoned with but now by virtue of my position at the WCC, the time for Nigerian crafts industry to shine has come”, Runsewe assured. On his other plans for repositioning the industry in Nigeria and Africa, Runsewe said: “I am incubating a great project and vision for arts and craft for Nigerians, which will yield even greater returns for them. My being at the WCC is for a purpose, and with time the world will see it. I am also going to change the narrative for the industry
in Nigerian and Africa, as a whole. “Gone are the days of mere showcasing of art and crafts for the sake of it. It is all about the presentation and packaging. It is how the Nigerian artist and craftsman package his works that he will be defined by. So we are going to address that, which is why I said the days of showcasing is gone. Art and crafts means money. I have seen other countries package what ordinarily is worthless, but end up branding it as rare and exotic works just to rake in the money. With me at the WCC, now is the time for our artists and craftsmen to also acquire that exposure”. Ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the NCAC boss said his agency has come up with entirely locally-produced souvenirs for fans of the Super Eagles which, according to him, the supporters’ club has commended. “Since the FIFA people have barred us from using our drums and trumpets, which we are known for, we at NCAC have come up with an ingenious idea of locally defining our support
instruments for cheering the football team in Russia. The Supporters’ Club people were here to see and they quite like it. “I am also presenting to you here with some literature produced by the NCAC and personally handed to the various delegates who attended the 61st United Nations World Tourism Organisation/Commission for Africa (CAF) Meeting in Abuja. The literature contains information about Nigeria, cultural festivals and calendar, pins, and many others, all produced by us”. The NCAC boss also used the opportunity of the tourism writers’ visit to appeal to warring factions of the National Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) to sheathe their swords and embrace dialogue, even as he advised them to consider the nation’s interest and the damage the squabble has already caused the country in the international scene. “With a Nigerian at the helm of WCC Africa Region, all eyes are now on the country. The world is now looking at us, so this kind of industry discord is not good us. It is even saddening that some parties in the disagreement have taken the fight abroad destroying each other’s hard-earned reputation. This does not show us in good light, so I am using this forum to appeal to them to come together and talk it out. That remains my overall interest. Earlier, in the congratulatory letter presented to Runsewe by Andrew Okugbowa, chairman of ANJET, the group noted that the appointment coming barely a year of his coming into office as director general of the NCAC, only goes to confirm that ‘you are indeed a man that is widely known and recognised by many for your vision and resounding commitment to the development and promotion of humanity and that you hold an uncanny belief in the furtherance of the frontiers of not only Nigerian but African arts and culture.’ “We have no doubt in our minds that you have the capacity and ability as well as the intellectual acumen to function effectively in your new office and carry high the banner of African arts and culture. With your new position, the world would soon know and see a different aspect and perspective of African arts and culture because we know that you would as always immense yourself in the actualisation of the vision of the World Craft Council in a manner that has never been witnessed before in the annals of the organisation,” the writers said.
Photography exhibition opens to unearth, reclaim a new becoming
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he Wheatbaker is proud to host Gbam!Unearthing and Reclaiming a New Becoming, a photography exhibition co-curated by A White Space Creative Agency and SMO Contemporary Art. The exhibition consisting of 25 photographs, question our continual unearthing, uncovering, discovering and re-imagining perfection by drawing on our history and identity as Africans. Gbam! presents evocative photographs by Daniel Obasi, Kadara Enyeansi, Kola Oshalusi, Lex Ash, Noma Osula and Ola Ebiti, six avant-garde fashion photographers exploring who we are, and who we aspire to become as we explore our collective GBAM! These bold, new-generation photographers sift through our rich fashion, culture, traditions, narratives and symbols to challenge our aesthetic identity as we project a renewed understanding of perfection from a millennial standpoint.
For example, Noma Osula’s powerful portraits of perfectly chiseled tribal marks across his subject’s striking Bantu features are juxtaposed against fine pink fabric, whimsically wound around a stout physical presence. Osula’ explores traditional scarification and our concept of beauty and traditional symbolism against the interplay of striking whimsical adornment. On the other hand, Kola Oshalusi’s documentary depiction of youth in Northern Nigeria presents an emotional naiveté, a clustering of untainted stillness and repose within an arid, harsh landscape. His powerful black and white images present a lyrical expose of young adults, always in clusters, facing forward with resilience despite their stark surroundings. “GBAM! showcases the exciting diversity of images currently being created by a new generation of Nigerian visual artists,” explained Papa Omotayo, exhibition co-curator and founder, A White Space Creative Agency.
“The works are fluid, referential, charged with self-reflection and steeped in the narrative
Ekpere by Lex Ash, photography
and contradictions of modern contemporary African identity and style. “ “Gbam! broadens the common perception of fashion photography as an art form, and spreads its tentacles wide to provide socio-economic critique as it questions perfection vis-à-vis identity, equality and traditional norms and expectations,” said Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, the Wheatbaker’s long standing art curator and founder of SMO Contemporary Art. “The simultaneously presenting a balanced sometimes ambiguous whole, one that belongs entirely in the present six photographers draw on cultural historical roots and attempt to divine their essence whilst, and may, possibly point to a new, bolder, more beautiful future” comments MazziOdu, Nigerian fashion editor and writer. Gbam! runs from June 9 to September 15, 2018 and is supported by Louis Guntrum Wines and the Wheatbaker.