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British-based
artist, Yinka Shonibare, was the guest speaker at a lecture on
contemporary art and visual culture in Lagos on April 20, in his first
appearance in Nigeria for decades. The latest in the Art-iculate
Lecture series, the event was organised by the Centre for Contemporary
Art (CCA) in collaboration with The Menil Collection, Shonibare Studio
and the venue, Terra Kulture. It was a rare opportunity for the arts
community to interact with the renowned artist, famed for his ‘Nelson’s
Ship in a Bottle’ sculpture, on public display on the Fourth Plinth of
London’s Trafalgar Square. Also in attendance at the ‘homecoming’ were
the artist’s mother, his brother as well as his studio manager, Ann
Marie Pena.

Visual artists
present included Rom Isichei, Peju Layiwola, Kainebi Osahenye, Olu
Amoda, Victor Ehikhamenor, Ndidi Dike and Jide Adeniyi-Jones.

In her welcome
address, Terra Kulture managing director, Bolanle Austen-Peters, said
she was honoured to be a part of the event. “This is probably the best
platform we have in Nigeria on art discourse and we are very happy to
partner with the CCA,” she added. Austen-Peters probably spoke for many
when she said of Shonibare, “We all are looking forward to engaging in
his work.”

Thanks to Yusuf Grillo

The artist kicked
off his talk on a humorous note. His greeting to the gathering in
Yoruba showed that, although he had not been to Nigeria in 30 years, he
is not out of touch. In a calm, unassuming manner, he talked through
slides of his work, sharing insights into his life and work as an
artist.

“I wonder, sir, if
you remember me,” Shonibare said to Yusuf Grillo, who was in the
audience. Recalling his childhood days in Nigeria, Shonibare explained
that, when he expressed interest in becoming an artist, he had been
sent by his father to talk to Grillo at the Yaba College of Technology,
Lagos, where the latter took time out to attend to the young man. From
the stage, Shonibare thanked Grillo for encouraging him back then,
telling the older artist, “No doubt, you have supported many students
so I am just one of the many.”

Revolution in the studio

Moving on, he told
the gathering that it takes a keen interest in the work of an artist to
properly understand it. “If you don’t quite know what artists are
doing, it’s difficult to get your head around it,” said Shonibare.

“I’m not very
different from people on the street making a revolution. I’m just
making my revolution in the studio,” he declared.

In a lecture that
touched on art movements and episodes in history including the French
Revolution, the Cold War, modernism, impressionism, post-modernism and
post-colonialism, Shonibare asserted that artists have been trying to
change society since the beginning of time. He recalled “a time when
Africans were supposedly inferior to Europeans” and when women were not
allowed to vote. He pointed out that revolutions changed all these and
added that the arts were always instrumental to the societal change.

“In ‘Things Fall
Apart’, what Chinua Achebe was actually trying to tell all of us in
Africa was, we had our own system of government. We are not
primitives,” Shonibare said. He added that although the novel portrayed
some negative things, Achebe generally wanted to show that even before
colonialism, Africans had a democratic system.

“The reason I’m
saying all this is to show you that what those ‘crazy artists’ are
doing is, they are being avant garde,” he said.

Pablo Picasso and
Jackson Pollock were two of the Western artists mentioned, as being
among those who changed the way artists paint, thereby changing the
status quo. While Picasso insisted on having flat paintings, Pollock
expressed himself by “throwing paint everywhere.” According to
Shonibare, the duo’s paintings were revolutionary. He declared,
“Changing a way to paint something is symbolic of revolution… That’s
why my work may seem crazy. What I am doing is my own revolution.”

With particular
reference to the uses of art during the Cold War, Shonibare stated
that, “Art is a very powerful tool in the West. Governments use arts as
a means of propaganda.”

Noting that the
‘Fela!’ musical was in town, the artist attested to the fact that the
afrobeat icon was revolutionary in his music, just as Achebe and
Nkrumah were revolutionary in their writings.

Interrogating history

Giving insight to
his early artistic production in the United Kingdom, when glasnost was
in the air and Shonibare’s work referenced Russian politics, he was
keen to stress that this should not be taken to mean he did not
appreciate Africa and its traditions. After an encounter with a teacher
that wanted him to produce more ‘African’ works, Shonibare’s response
was to incorporate a mix of African and Western cultures in his pieces.
“That’s my own way of reasserting my own identity. My identity is
hybrid and bicultural and my work should express that,” he declared.

The works
themselves were among the highlights of the evening, as the audience
viewed images many of his sculptural pieces, installations, photography
and video art in the slideshow. Among the works were images from the
‘Diary of a Victorian Dandy’ series, which counters historical fact by
showing a black man waited upon by whites. “I decided that my work
would interrogate history,” he said of the work.

The artist put
‘The Diary of a Victorian Dandy’ in the London Underground, saying,
“Whether you like it or not, you have to look at it.” The series was
inspired by Oscar Wilde’s use of the dandy in ‘The Picture of Dorian
Gray’, informed Shonibare, who said he sometimes uses literature in his
work.

However, he assured that, “My work contain subtle messages and are never aggressive. There’s always a degree of humour in it.”

Other
thought-provoking works discussed included: ‘Black Gold’, ‘The Rise and
Fall of Willy Loman’, ‘Vacation 2000’, ‘Scramble for Africa’, ‘Crash
Willy’ and ‘How To Blow Up Two Heads At Once’. It was hard to miss
‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’ (2007 -2010), incorporating 37 sails made
from African textiles. “This is what made me famous,” was the artist’s
way of introducing the work.

Fielding questions
from the audience, Shonibare explained why a rocket in one piece had
the name, ‘Martin Luther King’ on it. “It’s a reference to Martin
Luther King and to the rebellious Martin Luther who challenged the
Christian faith,” he said, adding that the work points to the fact that
changes are needed but people are not ready to make the change. “We
love the status quo and we don’t want things to change,” he stated.

Free like Picasso

On the percentage
of his work in museums vis-a-vis private collections, the artist
indicated that 40 percent is held in museums while private collectors
hold the remaining 60. Speaking on his and fellow UK-based Chris
Ofili’s career, Shonibare admitted that, “We are 100 percent collected
by white people.” He seemed to be tuning the audience to a concern,
saying, “Art collecting in Europe is actually a huge legacy for the
culture. My work is hugely collected in Europe, but it’s not coming to
Nigeria.” However, he refused to talk about the cost of his pieces.
“Discussing figures is vulgar,” he pleaded.

On the need for
museums in Nigeria, Shonibare said, “I don’t think that’s an
individual’s responsibility but collective.” He argued that if big
hotels can be built along the Lekki Peninsula in Lagos, then museums
would cost only a fraction.

He was taken up by
visual artist and journalist, Chuka Nnabuife, on his use of the Dutch
wax, an ‘African’ fabric of Indonesian origin; he was further asked
what Nigerians can hold on to in his work as “our own.” Shonibare
replied by citing Picasso, a Spanish artist who was influenced by
African art to further modernism. “I’m free like Picasso and I can do
what I want. We are global,” Shonibare declared, arguing that Picasso’s
movement was not questioned, nor should he be questioned about what he
depicts in his art. “My work isn’t about representation; it’s about the
politics of representation. I’m not using African wax to represent
Africa essentially but my work is questioning representation.”

It was noted
during the session that the level of art education in Nigeria is very
low especially at the primary and secondary levels. The artist argued
that although everyone has to play a part, it takes joint effort by the
community to change the situation.

“There’s an
African saying that it takes a village to bring up a child,” he said.
He likened this to an art exhibition, which requires an artist,
gallery, curators and others, to succeed.

Artist Yusuf Grillo commended the efforts of Shonibare and was
proud that he came to him when he was starting out. He also agreed with
his former protégé on the issue of representation. “The artist is, in
quote, a very selfish person,” Grillo said, adding that culture can be
thrown aside and what the artist then creates, is himself. “The first
and most important thing about art is to be sincere,” the older artist
said.