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The African
Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) and the Lufodo Academy of Performing
Arts (LAPA) recently held a press conference for the upcoming Women in
Film Forum. The forum, scheduled for June 16 and 17, is themed ‘Women
and the Dynamics of Representation.’

According to a
statement released by the Fund, “This activity is… a crucial
component of AWDF’s Popular Culture project, which is supported by the
MDG3 Fund.”

Speaking at the
press conference, Executive Director of the AWDF, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi,
said the involvement of the grant-making body was to see “how we can
engage more with practitioners in popular culture.”

Adeleye-Fayemi
said what little many people abroad know about Nigeria is courtesy the
indigenous film industry. But matters have arisen over the portrayal of
women in many of these films. In this regard, AWDF and LAPA convened
the forum in the hope that there will be “more affirming images of
women.”

What a woman can do…

Corroborating this
view, renowned Nollywood actress and LAPA director of Studies, Joke
Silva, told of a film she featured in where none of the female
characters was positive. The script was written by a woman, who argued
that it was a portrayal of how women are and what people wanted to see.

Supporting Silva’s
claim, Adeleye-Fayemi said in selecting women-friendly films that would
be screened at the forum, she discovered that “films produced by men
scored the highest in terms of good films portraying women in good
light.”

Concerning the
forum, Silva said industry practitioners, academicians and civil
society organisations will be amongst those taking part in the
conversations surrounding the stereotypical role of wicked women in
Nigerian films.

“Nollywood is
extremely powerful. If there’s any message you want to put out there,
you need to involve Nollywood,” the actress said.

Acclaimed filmmaker, Tunde Kelani said, “It’s not for nothing that man’s first language is termed ‘mother tongue.’”

Kelani said in
making his films, he took the trouble to make sure women are
well-represented in his films. ‘Arugba’, ‘Abeni’, ‘Thunderbolt’, and
‘Campus Queen’ are some of his films in which women have played
prominent and positive roles.

He called the
proposed forum, “a laudable initiative.” The responsibility to ensure
that women were portrayed in a positive light in Nollywood, he however
said, rested mostly with women.

Strength of a woman

“The greatest
problem for us women is that we look at ourselves the way men see us,”
said Nollywood actress Bimbo Akintola, pointing out that at the end of
the day, “Actresses just want to make money.”

The trained
theatre artist, who has starred in movies like ‘Out of Bounds’ and
‘Dangerous Twins,’ said, “I got tired of terrible scripts, awful
directors, which is why I went behind the scenes and started producing.

“We don’t really
think about the power we have as actresses and what we are portraying.
Maybe this forum would help attend to that,” she said.

Silva, who said
she once took the roles of long-suffering women in order to make a
living, listed the kind of roles she would like to see in Nollywood.
“Our flaws are not our totality,” she said while naming some foreign
actresses like Cate Blanchett and Judy Dench, who had played the role
of Elizabeth I, a flawed, yet formidable and inspiring female character.

“Even when you
have a negative role, you can counterbalance with a positive female,”
Silva said referring to her role in AMBO IV movie, ‘The Child,’ where
she plays a controlling power-hungry mother, who is pitted against her
son’s younger, more reserved and understanding love interest.

Director of the
hit film ‘Guilty Pleasures,’ Emem Isong described herself as being very
particular about showing the strength of women in her films. “I think
Nigerian women are really strong,” she said.

Re-writing ‘Nollywomen’

Responding to a
suggestion that a workshop be done during the forum to orientate
scriptwriters on how to portray inspiring female characters,
Adeleye-Fayemi said organising such capacity-building sessions will be
looked at in the months following the forum.

She said her
organisation could share stories with filmmakers that would give a
plausible edge to the movies and in turn ensure that the films have
better commercial value. “(These stories) need to be told with a
certain nuance and empathy,” she suggested.

“One of the best
ways to transform any nation is through the media. The film industry is
a very important tool in changing the nation,” Silva concurred.

Expected at the
Women in Film Forum are prominent African filmmakers, thinkers and
writers, including academic Abena Busia (sister to actress Akosua Busia
of ‘The Color Purple’ fame), Tunde Kelani, Bunmi Oyinsan, Amaka Igwe,
Emem Isong, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Akin Omotoso. They are expected to
“start a gender dialogue on how we can reclaim popular culture to
promote gender equality and women’s empowerment,” said the AWDF’s
Executive Director, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi.

The Women in Film Forum takes place at The Colonnades Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos, on June 16 and 17, 2010.

The series of
activities commemorating culture activist, Toyin Akinosho’s 50th
birthday continued on Sunday, May 30 with a variety night at the
National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), part f the National
Theatre complex in Lagos. Early arrivals waited over an hour before the
show started, leading to discussions about the habitually late
commencement of events in Nigeria, where attendees also embrace the
culture of arriving late.

The Dugombas
Troupe’s ‘Akoto’ was the first of the evening’s performances after
emcee, Ropo Ewenla, had disclosed that the event was not the last
centred on Akinosho. ‘Against All Odds’, a solo exhibition by
convalescing artist Uche Nwosu and a play by Soji Cole, winner of a
competition for young playwrights, Ewenla disclosed, would be held
soon. The highpoint of the performance by the Dugombas was a fire and
broken glass eating magician who however revolted some by regurgitating
part of the meat and glass he had earlier swallowed.

Serious genius

Laying the
foundation of what became the trend as the evening wore on, Tunde
Akingbade, the first Akinosho associate to speak, used fine words in
describing the Secretary General of the arts advocacy group, Committee
for Relevant Art (CORA). He noted that the celebrant is a genius for
being able to straddle both Geology and the arts effortlessly. “He has
been a very wonderful guy. Marvellous guy, intelligent,” Akingbade
said. He also explained that Akinosho is a serious man, contrary to
what some believe. “That’s the way geniuses behave. You will think they
are mad but they have a focus,” he said, adding that Akinosho was
always accessible while working at Chevron.

Poet Uzor Maxim
Uzoatu added a touch of drama to the occasion by initially claiming not
to know Akinosho. “Who’s so called?” He asked but went ahead to regale
the audience with tales of their days at the University of Ife and
careers as journalists. “He is a very serious minded young man,” Uzoatu
stated before he read a poem titled ‘Toyin Akinosho’ he wrote on the
bus on the way to the event. “If the god of poetry wrote a poem about
you, you are not a failed person. You are a serious person,” the author
of ‘God of Poetry’ reiterated in his remarks on Akinosho.

An uncle’s concern

Uncle of the
celebrant, Wole Akinosho, gave an indication of how much the family
cherishes the publisher of Africa Oil and Gas Report with. “He is loved
by the family dearly but we don’t see much of him, Arts has taken up
his time. He is a symbol of pride to us; he is the first scientist in
the family. He did his job diligently at Chevron.” The older Akinosho –
famous ‘Uncle Wole’ of the classic children’s television show, ‘Animal
Game’ – rendered a song he used to sing for the geologist when he was
young. He also commented on his nephew’s status as a bachelor. “Toyin o
ti gbeyawo (He has not married),” he began in Yoruba. “It is the desire
of our family that Toyin Akinosho will come with a beautiful queen this
time next year,” he prayed to loud amen from the gathering. Uncle and
nephew thereafter sang a Yoruba hymn, ‘Olorun Bethel’ together.

Barrier breaker

Singer Cornerstone
halted the flow of tributes with ‘Hero’, a song celebrating notable
Black achievers before Modupe Oduyoye, writer and publisher heaped more
praises on Akinosho who sat quietly in a chair, soaking in what was
being said about him and nodding occasionally in affirmation of some
points. “I like people who cross the boundaries of disciplines,”
Oduyoye, himself a contrarian said of the geologist and Secretary
General of CORA. The author of ‘Le-Mah Sabach-Tha-Niy: Lament and
Entreaty in the Psalms’ also commented on the annual Lagos Book and Art
Festival (LABAF) organised by CORA. He charged Akinosho, Jahman
Anikulapo and others in the group to “continue with what you are doing,
Olorun o ni je ko re yin (God won’t let you get tired). Don’t make it
expensive [LABAF book fair], make it attractive to small publishers.
Continue your promotion of the arts; it is better to live in penury
than not be able to sponsor the arts.”

Chair, Association
of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos State chapter read a poem, ‘Fusion for
Toyin@50’ while Bayo Olupohunda spoke of the ‘poblisha’s’ support for
youth and the nurturing of their talents. Another alumnus of the
University of Ife, Edmund Enaibe, x-rayed Akinosho’s life as a reporter
and his meaningful artistic engagements. “In his restlessness, there is
direction,” he noted.

The problem with Toyin

Poet, essayist and
social critic, Odia Ofeimun, who commented on Akinosho’s ‘eclectic
approach to organisation’, told the celebrant “it is not enough to
talk. You should sensitise our society that creativity and productivity
are what make us human, not consumption.” Ofeimun added, “We need
genuine promoters of the arts to sensitise our society to how things
should be run, [people] like Toyin Akinosho.” Characteristically, the
poet also identified areas in which he wanted Akinosho to improve. “The
problem with Akinosho is that he needs to go beyond the eclectic,
ensure that the ideas are coming down in acid.” Ofeimun also noted that
the celebrant “owes us two books.” The author of ‘The Poet Lied’ said
he would tell Akinosho the first in private, but he revealed the other.
“People tell us how well Toyin Akinosho knows about night life. He must
write about night life in this city (Lagos), not only about Nigeria but
also about South Africa that he knows about.”

Filmmaker Tunde
Kelani on whom the task fell to pour the libation, showed he has
started imbibing traits of the artists he works with. “Our ancestors,
it is not that I’m stingy with this wine. It’s just that there are
(only) two bottles,” he said to people’s amusement while performing the
task. ‘Uncle Wole’, Ofeimun and Iyabo Aboaba joined Kelani in front of
the audience to toast Toyin Akinosho, who took his seat among them.

The night ended on a merry note with guests dancing to ‘Eleleture’
‘Arekereke’ and ‘Asabi Alakara’ from ‘Wonderland, Akeem Lasisi’s
forthcoming album. Edaoto, Ropo Ewenla and the artist performed the
tracks together while guests including Kole-Ade Odutola took the dance
floor.

The African
Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) is sponsoring the first ever “Women in
Film Forum” in Lagos on June 16 and 17, 2010. The AWDF should be deeply
troubled by the treatment of women in Nigeria. But then, I am afraid,
Nollywood merely mirrors how society views and treats women. It is a
scandal that had been previously ignored in the reams of work by
(mostly male) Nigerian writers, and the pretend-art of the wretched
offerings of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). Why are Nigerian
women treated so poorly and what should we do about it? The AWDF is not
advocating the censorship of Nollywood, but there is an opportunity to
collaboratively combat a problem. The answer is to begin to attack the
root of the problem until the mirror that is put to the disease begins
to reflect meaningful progress.

I have a love-hate
relationship with Nollywood videos. The several dozens I have watched
are usually crappy productions featuring awful cinematography and
overwrought acting. But you have to give it to the brains and brawns
behind the industry. Nollywood is a huge triumph for innovation, can-do
energy and entrepreneurship. Nollywood is a juicy slap in the faces of
those who stole the money that was promised for the arts. Without
Nollywood, we would have state sponsored monstrosities like the NTA and
her hapless offshoots. Dysfunction abhors a vacuum. Nollywood has
tapped into a hunger for real everyday entertainment and it has hit the
jackpot.

My wife loves
Nollywood videos. From the comfort of the lawns of America she views
the videos as a damning mirror of all that is wrong with our country.
You have to respect the multibillion naira industry that is Nollywood.
Say hello to Nigerian ingenuity and industry, as it reaps gold from the
trash dump of dysfunction

Nollywood mostly
celebrates patriarchy at its basest and most obscene. This is not a
call for faux feminism to rain opprobrium on Nollywood’s head.
Nollywood did not make up the violence, condescension and second class
status accorded women in Nigeria.

Art imitates
society’s ways. Indeed, the sense that a visitor gets upon spending a
few weeks in Nigeria is that Nigeria plods along on the strong backs of
women and children. In return, most of them are treated very poorly by
the patriarchy. In general, most women are taken for granted as if it
is the law. This message is reinforced quite robustly by Nollywood.

It takes getting
used to when you are visiting from a Western nation. Nigeria is a
patriarchy. What is wrong with that? There is plenty wrong with it as
it is currently practised. It is the past tense layered on the present.
This ought to change.

Nollywood is a
mean, brutally honest, crude mirror to Nigeria’s insides. And it is
ugly. In some respects even when it tries to rise above the seamy murk
that passes for life in Nigeria, it is even more revealing.

There is not just
a gap; there is a yawning chasm in the power equation between men and
women in Nigeria. The women who have escaped that gulag owe it to the
less fortunate women to push for change. I am not talking about
Eurocentric prattle about women empowerment, the one that attracts
dollars to NGOs with mission statements written to the test of dollars.
I am talking of a Nigerian centred strategy for treating women and
children with respect.

There is a huge
role here for our writers and Nigerian women who occupy leadership
roles in circumstances that are totally under their control.
Anecdotally, a high percentage of them use the new social networking
media alongside presumably their spouses and partners. Visit Facebook
and you will be impressed by the leadership role Nigerian women play in
facilitating online dialogue. The literary scene is also heavily
influenced by female writers. Under these conditions, Nollywood does
have a role to play that goes beyond merely mirroring what the society
looks like. We should collaborate more.

When it comes to
the welfare of women, Nigeria can be bipolar; what one sees is not
always the experience. As we speak, traditional relationships are under
attack.

Nollywood blurs the lines between stereotype, misogyny and reality.
In these videos, the women are portrayed as needy, aggressive,
sometimes not too bright and Machiavellian. They are dressed for the
kill, ready to be hunted down and killed, literally and figuratively.
The man is the sometimes benevolent giver; he also has the power to
take back what he has offered. Physical and emotional violence are used
to maintain control. And sometimes the demand on the woman is beyond
her powers: A male child is highly prized. Why are civil servants
prizing male offspring over females in the 21st century? Nollywood
won’t, can’t tell you. Their scripts lack any depth, spiritual or
intellectual. It is not Nollywood’s problem, the misogyny. Nigeria has
to fix how it views and treats her women. And then perhaps, Nollywood
will run out of material. And start really entertaining us.

In the early 90s,
when Nollywood was less than a decade old, I had in a three-part study
characterised it as “providing instant fame for the girl and boy next
door and instant fortune for a hybrid of producers.” Nollywood was a
phenomenon which in its development had minimal links; technically,
professionally and ethically with the older Nigerian Television and
Celluloid-film industries. It set its own standards, which sadly, were
based on the business ethics of its principal financiers, electronic
equipment traders turned producers/marketers. These basically
uncultured traders with limited education shaped and called the shots
in Nollywood, driven by the desire for huge profits from little
financial, aesthetic and cultural investments.

Women as commodities

They viewed women
as ‘commodities’ and worked on the perception that any pretty face
and/or attractive figure (in their eyes) is an automatic actress and
star. Naturally, hordes of all manner, shapes and shades of Nigerian
girls and women propelled by a mixture of poverty, the need for
self-promotion and notoriety as well, flocked to the venues where these
producers and their directors hung out.

It is instructive
to note that these Nollywood moguls didn’t need to go out scouting for
actresses. Rather, their hang-outs like Winnie’s Hotel in Surulere,
became flesh bazaars of aspiring actresses. Skimpily dressed and
flaunting their assets they came in droves to attract the attention of
producers and directors who practically carried out spontaneous public
rehearsals and castings.

Predictably, the
Nollywood moguls could bluff, pick and choose whilst the eager
potential actresses were literarily ready to do anything for bit-parts.
That these star-struck girls and women ‘fought’ each other to secure
parts and, the moguls in turn well aware of the seemingly unending
traffic of aspirants, confidently and callously discarded them at will
to create a fast turnover, soon became the established rules of the
Nollywood casting game!

Celebrity driven

It was not
dignifying or respectful of women. But what was expected of these
Nollywood moguls who held the aces, given their socio-cultural
background? Nonetheless, the girls and women equally share the blame as
they were willing partners in Nollywood’s early ‘debasement’ of
Nigerian women which set a trend that has not been completely
obliterated. There were noticeable improvements as better-educated
(mostly Mass Communication and Theatre Arts graduates) women got into
the industry. This raised the social profile of actresses in Nollywood
but they were still at the mercy of the scriptwriters and
producer-financiers who determined the type of roles they were cast in.

Interestingly,
rather than concern themselves about the cinematic image of Nigerian
women, Nollywood was consolidating, the actresses seemed more
interested in relatively frivolous talk about whether they would kiss
in films or act nude. Being celebrities with huge media (particularly
print) attention became their sole career goal and fulfilment.

Had Nollywood
finally succeeded in producing Nigerian actress-equivalents of
Hollywood’s dumb blondes? There were other manifestations of early
Hollywood, like strong rumours of sex with the producer/director for
bit parts and the presence of big-boobs-exposing no-talent equivalents
of Hollywood’s Jayne Mansfield and Diana Dors!

Stereotypical portrayals

It could be argued
that Nollywood finally took the Nigerian woman out of ‘her place’ in
the kitchen, but in return it put her in the bedroom for too long!
Given that Nollywood, from the beginning, was trade-driven not creative
or talent-driven, is it coincidental that its first huge success was
Domitilla? It was a story of Nigerian prostitutes in Italy desperate
and depraved to the level of having sex with dogs! A true story and raw
slice of life, we are told. A major creative handicap of Nollywood is
that themes that are basically documentary-film material are stretched
out to become movies.

Nollywood has
generally not been kind to Nigerian women. In its quest to create reel
chicks, young, hip/modern and city-wise as against real women,
Nollywood has sold the impression that glamour, fame, money and the
good fast life are all that matter for Nigerian women. So, they have
been stereotyped in Nollywood as pretty, seductive, devious, cunning,
quarrelsome, money-grabbing gold diggers who will readily use their
bodies, juju/charms and love potions to “catch men!” Subliminally
portrayed as ‘pretty toys’ they are also obliquely cast as hard nailed
fight-to-finish/death ‘demons’ in a never-ending and escalating battle
of the sexes in Nigeria.

Not all Jagua Nanas

We have culturally
unacceptable scenes where women slap men and overdoses of men battering
women in horrific scenes of domestic violence. Then there are the
gun-totting bad girls to boot. Two decades after Domitilla, we are
offered a film in which women fight each other with spiritual,
witchcraft and physical weapons in their struggle to “catch” white men
in Nigeria. Definitely, Nigerian women are not all Jagua Nanas and
Opios as Nollywood would want us to believe.

In a country that
has female chief justices, deputy governors, ministers, professors,
Pilots and bank chief executives, where are these women featured in
Nollywood as nation and home builders? Where are the model roles for
mothers, sisters and loving peace-makers? For every wayward
undergraduate soft-prostitute there should be a female Deputy Vice
Chancellor putting right the savage male cults on campuses.

We acknowledge that
Nollywood has produced a number of Nigerian superstar actresses who are
rich, internationally famous, brand ambassadors and shinning role
models to millions of Nigerian girls and women. Nollywood has also
given employment and careers to many thousands of Nigerian women.
Nonetheless, a lot more needs to be done content-wise and in the
profiling of Nigerian women.

Generation Next

The time has come
for another generation of young Nigerian women to come forward and give
a better gender balance and meaning to Nollywood. Three years ago I
taught a practical documentary filmmaking course at the National Film
Institute, Jos, for diploma and degree students. I was amazed at the
potential of these students I later dubbed the ‘Generation Next of
Nigerian Filmmakers.’ Amongst them were skilled and confident female
scriptwriters, producers, directors, camera(wo)men, sound(wo)men and
editors who, given more opportunities and needed encouragement, will
match their counterparts anywhere in the world, including Hollywood.
Let us not forget that the great film ‘Mississippi Masala’ was made by
a ‘Third World’ woman!

We must be wary of
the new clique of Nigerian women and their white counterpart so-called
‘experts’ now on a questionable missionary crusade to ‘help’ the
Nigerian film industry. Hollywood and its European counterparts have
still to come up with genuine visual proof that they respect and can
honour black women and men in their films and TV. We should embrace our
Nigerian sisters from Jos; who are well-trained and intentioned to make
Nollywood do the right thing on gender issues and cinematic role models
for Nigerian women!

The first ever African Women in Film Forum holds at the Colonades Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos on June 16 and 17, 2010.

The African Arts
Foundation (AAF) on May 25, 2010 organised a press briefing at its
headquarters in Ikoyi, to announce plans for the third edition of the
National Arts Competition, a partnered initiative with Nigerian
Breweries Limited.

Omotayo Adeola,
project coordinator for the foundation, opened the conference by
introducing key organisers and participants such as Zainab Ashadu,
Assistant Director/ Curator, AAF; Vivian Ikem, External Communications
Manager, Nigerian Breweries; Tony Usidamen, Communications Manager,
Dana Group; Oliver Enwonwu, Chairman, Society of Nigerian Artists,
Lagos Chapter; Susann Voigt, Programme Assistant, Goethe Institut; and
winners of last year’s edition of the competition – Richardson Ovbiebo
and Olayinka Stephens Sangotoye, first prize winners, Sculpture and
Photography categories respectively.

Assistant Director
AAF, Zainab Ashadu, unveiled the theme of this year’s competition as
‘Chronicles of a great nation at 50’, and proceeded to discuss the
peculiarities of this edition. According to her, there would be no age
restriction and the prize money would be increased, with the first
prize being N1.5 million, and N1 million and N500 thousand respectively
for the second and third place winners.

Since the
competition is billed to occur nationwide, Ashadu mentioned that
another press conference would be held in the eastern part of the
country. The panel of judges comprises accomplished artists and art
critics, and the deadline for entries is set for June 15. A workshop
will be organised for finalists to enable them hone their skills.

Vivian Ikem,
External Communications Manager for Nigerian Breweries, explained that
the initiative is the company’s way of performing its corporate social
responsibility by investing in the arts, while Tony Usidamen extolled
the initiative and pledged the company’s support as the official
airline of the competition. Other partners and sponsors include Goethe
Institut and Society of Nigerian Artists.

Lauding the initiative, Enwonwu said, “Art can be used for socio-economic development and to tackle social issues.”

Past winners of the competition, who were present at the conference,
expressed their appreciation for the project. According to Sangotoye,
he had been initially discouraged at the prospect of studying
photography as an undergraduate degree in the university; however,
since winning first prize in the photography category of the
competition, he has been able to procure a camera – the one he used
during the competition belonged to his lecturer – and has enjoyed
immense opportunities consequently, such as the privilege of working
with the British Council earlier this year.

It was close to midnight when the airport taxi dropped me off on
a quiet tree-lined boulevard, called the Anandagram, as I would later find out.
Before me stood the gate of Sanskriti Kendra, a place I had been eager to visit
in the past six months. I didn’t notice the compound’s loveliness – until the
next morning. Sanskriti Kendra is an artist complex; India’s most popular and
probably oldest.

It is located along the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road on the outskirts
of Delhi, a 20-minute drive to the picturesque Gurgaon, reputed as the call
centre capital of the world because of the proliferation of IT companies there,
and about an hour’s drive to the intricate heart of New Delhi by taxi. That is,
if you don’t resort to the cheaper alternatives: rickshaws and buses.

Anyway, that midnight as I lugged my bag to my studio, all I saw
was an ordinary well-kept compound fringed by trees and shrubs. No thanks to a
transatlantic flight that buzzed with Spanish and Hindi almost on end till
touchdown; to the clamminess in my armpits that comes with layovers and
long-hauls. Not to the tingly air pressure in my eardrums.

Soft waves, soft breezes

I stumbled out the following morning, gritty-eyed, like a man
gripped by a hangover. Jetlag, precisely. And lo – my senses brightened at
once. It was not the sun’s glare, too soft on the skin. Not the fragrant breeze
which fanned my face. No, it was the amazing shawl of green that perked me up.
The serenity was subduing! It was like waking up on the beach at dawn; soft
waves, soft breezes. No hassles.

I stood awhile on my veranda. Frangipani scent filled my
nostrils when I breathed out. Smiling dreamily, I imagined I had just
discovered freedom. The freedom to renew myself, like a phoenix.

That’s how Sanskriti Kendra can make you feel on your first day,
particularly if you crave a short escape from familiar metropolitan sounds. Or
crave a moment’s indulgence in its lush gardens of birdsong and daydream. If
you wish to awaken creativity and stir your Muse towards expected ends,
Sanskriti Kendra is the right place.

Banyan, terracotta, and
denizens

The first thing you will notice once you walk into the sprawling
grounds of Sanskriti Kendra, apart from the slow music of serenity which stirs
at once within your soul, is the mighty banyan tree with its sinewy roots
clenching the earth, like fists. Like giant dreadlocks. The first time I saw
such a colossal tree was in Miami, in 2008, and I posed for a photograph right
in front of it.

The second thing: two statuesque terracotta horses on your left.
Beyond the equestrian figures are other imposing statues of deities and animals
laid out in a pavilion. The third is the neatly-shaved lawn skirting the
network of cobbled pathways and terraces. The fourth is the fine simplicity of
the ochre buildings, and, finally, the other denizens: squirrels playing
around, the birds flitting in and out of a thousand branches, butterflies and
dragonflies surfing the air.

Timeless objet d’art

The other things you will begin to notice as you tour the
verdant grounds is the plethora of objet d’art – figurines, vases, various
pieces of artistic, cultural and religious values – each piece remarkably
placed at door-sides, verandas, in the gardens, on the cobbled pathway, by the
lily-ponds, and some in the artists’ studio. They are made of ceramics,
terracotta, woodcraft, metal work, and even textile. Most of these objects have
discernible features and forms; some look charming; some haunting – like the
horned head hanging by the door of Studio 7.

Then behind the artists’ lodge is a potter’s shed, where some of
these objects might have been fashioned. In Sanskriti Kendra there is indeed so
much to saturate not only your writers’ senses, but also attune to your mind to
the riches of India; her industriousness. Her timeless dedication to arts and craft.

Cultivating dreams

Sanskriti Kendra roughly translates to a centre for the process
of cultivating. Sanskriti means ‘the process of cultivating’ and Kendra means a
‘centre’ – both in Sanskrit, an Indo-Aryan language regarded as scared in
Hinduism and Buddhism. It is one of the 22 official languages of India.
Sanskirit Kendra is run by the Sanskriti Pratishthan founded in 1979 by O.P.
Jain, a non-academic but big-hearted enthusiast of arts and culture.

Sanskriti Kendra’s philosophy is influenced by antiquity,
artistic merit, and cultural significance, and its myriad activities revolve
around art, craft, literature, social work, and the performing arts, which the
centre has pursued and promoted with a passion that is essentially Indian, over
two decades. Hundreds of artists of various nationalities, and dexterous
craftsmen from almost every part of India, have enjoyed residencies here.

Two Nigerian writers have resided here before me. The beauty of
the centre can be appreciated in how arts and culture overlap harmoniously and
enrich each other in great degrees, thereby infusing a kind of synergy uncommon
with other residencies, with the artist attracting an unexpected boon. Another
beauty is Sanskriti Kendra’s capacity to create a pseudo-Eden ambience where
man and animals blend unobtrusively into each other’s daily life, without ill
will or threat, preserving the flora’s peace.

Unlike most residences, this idyllic writer’s complex houses
three indoor museums, an open-air museum and amphitheatre, an art gallery,
excluding its rich library and spacious residential studios, and a sprawling
luxuriant garden. The three museums are: The Museum of Indian Terracotta, which
is home to over 2,000 objects of art made primarily of terracotta. The Museum
of Everyday Arts, a mini-gallery of utilitarian objects and religious articles,
represented as works of aesthetics and art. And, the Textile Museum, which
displays the diversity of Indian textile heritage.

Veggie, red wine and
sweets

Later in the evening, over red wine and veggie snacks topped off
with mithai – Indian crunchy yet creamy sweets, Mr. Jain, the septuagenarian
founder of the centre, told all the artists present that his dream has always
been to ‘help cultivate an environment for the preservation and promotion of
India’s artistic and cultural resources.’

He recounts how he started the residency programme, inspired by
a trip to the US, how he started collecting art pieces many years ago, which
typify the creative and artistic urges of the common people, and how he decided
to put his soul into the achievement of an ideal artist village. He also
intimates us of the significance of terracotta in the Indian household and
life, although, sadly, capitalism has begun to erode this cultural legacy due
to its inherent acquisitive materialism.

We feel awed by Mr. Jain’s passion and vision. We become speechless awhile,
and start to sip our drinks and nibble snacks once again. We soon stand up to
leave. Darkness has dyed the night black; a frosty chill quivers in the air. I
pause, just briefly, to refill my wineglass – one swill for the road. And
smiling vaguely to myself, I think, ‘Sir, you have surely cultivated a desire
in me to take my writing more seriously,’ and then hasten off to catch up with
the fellow artists.

Aiyetoro Live: Afrobeat meets Jazz -Lets go bowlin. The Palms, Lekki, Lagos. 5pm. June 6.

Nigeria@50,So What? Featuring Crown Troupe of Africa, Coded Tunes, All Stars, and Amulegbajo Dance Company – Motherlan’, Opebi, Lagos. 3pm & 5pm. June 6.

Epiphany: Solo exhibition by Segun Aiyesan – Signature Gallery, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Till June 10.

Theatre@Terra: ‘Who is afraid of Wole Soyinka?’- Play by Wole Oguntokun – Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria Island, Lagos. 3pm & 6pm. Sundays in June.

The Abuja Writers Forum: Weekly Reading and Critique Sessions -2nd Floor Hamdala Plaza, Jimmy Carter Crescent, Off Area 11 Junction, Abuja. Time: 4pm. June 6, 13 & 20.