19
• T H I S D AY TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2017
FEATURES
The paintings seek to depict women as pillars of strength
people tend to respect beauty. “We do have a certain commitment to make sure it’s maintained and looked after,” she said. “But in my experience, when you regenerate a place like this, when you put in something beautiful, people tend to respect it. I’ve never had an issue with street art before; the murals I paint rarely get defaced. I think the community usually are proud of it.” She could be right. She has worked with school children from Kuramo Primary School and Archbishop Taylor Nursery and Primary School to create artwork on two BRT buses currently on the state’s road. There is also a mural which is currently being displayed on the walls of Kuramo Primary School that has not been tampered with. Perhaps, art might be the way to go if public spaces in Lagos are to be kept out of the reach of reckless defacers. And considering there are similar projects – most notably the ones at Stadium Road, Ojuelegba and LASUTH, Ikeja – to the one at Falomo going on at several spots in the city, it seems the authorities have taken note. Meanwhile, an aide to the Lagos State Commissioner for Housing who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there are measures that have been put in place to ensure that the space is properly maintained and kept pristine. “There are a couple of things that we have put in place and are still going to put in place,” the aide said. “For example there is security; we will ensure that the project is not messed up.” By May 27, Alakija should have painted her last column and Falomo Under-bridge transformed into a public space befitting of
I see a lot of people driving round and round several times now so they can see what’s going on; I have quite a lot of people come in the afternoon after work to see the progress. So that’s what this is about – it’s taking art out of the gallery, bringing it to the streets, and using it to reach out to people who’ve possibly never been in contact with art before
Alakija . . . famous for mural art
A close-up shot of one of the designed columns
Some of the refurbished Falomo Bridge columns
Lagos’ burgeoning megacity status. “I think it’s brilliant that Lagos State is embracing this,” she noted. “If I think about the process
I would have to go through in the UK to get a public commissioning like this off the ground, you’ll be talking about years
in process. I feel grateful that I have been given this opportunity and I am very excited that Lagos State is supporting the arts.”