On 'Tapestry of Life: New Beginnings'

A Conversation Between Jahman Anikulapo & Ndidi Dike
In relation to Tapestry of Life: New Beginnings Exhibition

‘’I believe that the beauty of a creative person is the freedom to create as you will. I shouldn’t be forced to do works or engage in creativity that I am not deeply inspired to do. When I have a statement to make, I say it the way I am motivated by my inner desire and my convictions to do it. All this years there was a contentment working with wood and that was what I was doing. But those who know my stories know I have always painted like every other trained painter; only that I painted on wood. I may decide to paint on cloth, on a car, on your body etc. it depends on the direction of my muse’’

Show after show, Ndidi has, in truth, shown that she had other dimensions to her artistic enterprise that had not been allowed to flower; or had been deliberately encouraged to rest in her huge cauldron of experiences and encounters with the dynamics of art practices from other parts of the world.

But why is Ndidi painting now; in this show? Perhaps boredom with wood? Fed up, with sculpture

No, I am not bored with wood at all.

But you haven’t worked on canvas or board for so many years.

No, I have not! In fact, not for years now. That’s exactly the way it is, but as an artist you are free to continue experimenting with new ideas, themes, media, materials and processes

And you’re not reaching to some people saying why doesn’t she paint anymore?

I think I am a very free spirit, I do what I feel inside. I don’t think there’s undue extraneous influence in all I have done so far in my career. That has never moved me. If you give me any media I can manipulate it to create something intriguing, be it clay, metal, paper, shoe laces and mixed media etc.

Twenty years plus is a landmark in the career of any artist; and now Ndidi, reputed for her woodwork, is going back to painting, where she started from….

Yes.

Isn’t there some other motive for going back to painting?

I feel within myself…I am somebody who is always willing to add something new. If you look at my very first exhibition, that should be in 1986, there were paintings mixed and sculpture; after that, I step down painting on canvas and concentrated on sculpture. My show in 1987 was mainly sculpture relief’s, some of which I also freed them from the spatial limitation of the wall and put them on the floor of the exhibition hall. I found something deeply motivating in the wood; I fell in love with texture of the wood the spoken language of the wood, the different grades and innate colours and I thought I had so much to say with wood. There were so much that wood would enable me to say that another media at that point in time could not. That was it
Increasing one's visual repertoire is a constant challenge for me.

I am not defending my self, it’s just a drive and emotion, as I said there is no outside influence it’s the desire of an artist.

When did the urge for the canvas hit you?

The overwhelming need to paint on canvas started in June 2004, before that because of my insecurity and trepidation I experimented with some small paintings on paper once I had done this, I was confident to paint on canvas.

Sure you’re not trying to say that in 20years, there were so many things you wanted to say, which the wood medium did not allow you to say? And thought probably painting would be the appropriate medium…?

I didn’t say that but I felt I wanted something diverse from what I was doing before. I just had new ideas and I felt I could say them in a new medium using acrylic with other textured elements that activate the canvas…

What do you think of those who have been used to your wood? Have you asked from them what they think of you changing your medium? I have an impression that some of your collectors might be puzzled: why is she painting?

Yes you are right: That’s exactly one of the thoughts that came to my mind when I started painting: ‘Why is she painting now?’ `What has happened to her? ‘And as you said: ‘is she tired of wood?’ for me, art is continuum.

As an artist in terms of your creative development, any media you think or feel comfortable with, you can work with. Remember that traditionally, I was a painter and my very early expressions were mixed media before I went to painting, to sculpture and now back to painting. So painting has been a part of my work all these years anyway. I had been painting on wood. I just decided to do it on canvas this time around. So for the collectors, I am just hoping everybody will feel ‘this is great!’ ‘She is expanding her media’; and that ‘she has raised the bar in terms of her many facets of creativity’.

Yes, you have been painting on wood, but would you agree that your colour scheme became so vibrant and evocatively emotive when you brought it out on the canvas? Hasn’t something happened around your creative life?

These things bubble in your sub-conscious. I’ve always liked colours, raw sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre colours that have to do with nature of the earth etc. the use of white, is evocative of calm, contemplation, stillness, and peace. So for me, this is an exhibition of my sub-conscious in terms of the colour scheme. Its just happens when I start painting. I want the colours to be perfect.

• Words by Jahman Anikulapo & Ndidi Dike
• Images of Paintings by Onyema Offeodu-Okeke

Ndidi Dike's 'Tapestry of Life: New Beginnings'

Ndidi Dike: the Cultural Diplomat
‘Tapestry of Life: New Beginnings’ is not just another documentation or portraiture of exquisite works of art by a Nigerian whose creative genius is widely acknowledged. It is not just a work of art. It is also an instrument of diplomacy.

It is often forgotten that art has throughout history been associated with diplomacy. Great empires have used their great artistic accomplishments to express their grandeur and greatness. The Renaissance art of Michelangelo showed the greatness of the period when Europe rediscovered the classical tradition after the ruins of the Middle Age[s]. When you walk through some of the ancient cities of Europe, you see clear evidence of art expressing history, the history of nationalism, the history of internationalism; the history of human civilization and human degradation. Nothing has better expressed history and politics than art and artistry.

Here in Nigeria, we have plenty evidence of the diplomatic verities of art and artistry. The colonialists did not come only with gun-boats and gun-powders. They also came with their art and culture to enchant and seduce the natives, and to humanize their brutality. And as Anthonio Gramsci, the Italian Philosopher and Marxist Scholar argued, empires do not rule through force only. They rule also through the hegemony of ideas. Art- whether as literature or sculpture or painting- is an instrument of maintaining the hegemony of imperialist power. It is in this wise that the British, the French and the Germans established cultural centers to propagate imperial ideals and values in the colonies.

Just as art and artistic expression could become instruments to reinforce oppression, they could also become great forces of resistance and liberation. Art has always been at the vanguard of liberation struggles. The Pan-African and Negritude struggles in Africa were sustained by artistic creativity. Our humanism, our idealism expressed through our literature, our sculpture, our paintings and our bronze works, were great resources that helped us to overcome the cultural nihilism of colonialism. With our great art we recovered courage and affirmed our humanity.

I intuitively identify the foreign policy value of the great artistry of Ndidi Dike. As a former Minister of Culture and Tourism I can easily understand what art has got to do with Foreign Policy. The whole work of a Foreign Minister is to project the greatness of his country. In today’s world of global competitiveness when tourism has become the greatest revenue earner, every country should be marketing its cultural and artistic resources. Citizen Diplomacy aims to project Nigeria’s greatness so that we can gain the competitive edge in global political and economic transactions. Such competitive advantage results in enhanced economic and social welfare for the citizens.

“Tapestry of Life” is a collection of diverse statements of the cultural greatness of Nigeria. It is a sublime expression of the artistic genius of Ndidi Dike, a Cultural Ambassador who is project Nigeria to the world through visual arts. I fully support her aspirations and commitments.

• Speech by Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe CFR at the opening of Ndidi Dike's 'Tapestry of Life: New Beginnings' exhibition at the National Museum, Lagos.
  Foreign Minister
  
  
  On the right, the artist Ndidi Dike is shown with students of Yaba Tech painting Goriola Street in Ajegunle, Mushin, Lagos - during a workshop organised by the Goethe Institute, Lagos, in 2006.

• Installation images by Don Barber.

Arts Talk: Ndidi Dike & Bisi Silva

Ndidi Dike in conversation with Bisi Silva

Bisi Silva: I remember briefly discussing a few years ago the issues that you were working on outside of your wall sculpture pieces. You mentioned that for nearly a decade you had been collecting objects associated with slavery. What is the background to this interest?
.
Ndidi Dike: As an artist I constantly troll different environments for new ideas and media that can be used to develop my work. Sometimes these ideas can percolate in my subconscious for years, until an opportunity arises to actualise them. Around 1999 I started collecting different types of manilla and related objects, then I moved on to making my own version of branded stamps reminiscent of those used to brand slaves as property or chattel. I also noticed there existed little or no discourse or documentation on Nigerian Slave ports despite its centrality to the slave trade.
.
I visited Badagry in 2002 to see the slave route through which large numbers of our people were taken to the Americas to work daily, for long hours on plantations under subhuman conditions. During that visit, I knew I was standing face to face with history. Yet, much as I wanted to go back sooner, it only happened in 2007 at which point I knew I wanted to capture in a dramatic visual form, this cataclysmic episode in human history. No-one can visit Badagry without being moved by this ignoble part of our history or by the consquences of man’s inhumanity.
.
BS: There are few artists in Nigeria I know of who have taken slavery as a subject matter so directly in their work as you have done in Waka-Into-Bondage. Can you talk about the genesis of this project.
.
ND: The project comes out of my life’s experiences of which 3 are the most relevant. The visits to Badagry in 2002 and 2007 were the catalyst for Waka-into- Bondage. Secondly, tertiary education at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka was important in developing my African consciousness. Founded at the twilight of colonial rule by Nigeria’s first president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1960, he was resolute in his quest for the black person to occupy a pride of place in the global community after a long history of oppression. As a student at Nsukka I was introduced to the works of great writers such Prof Chinua Achebe and taught by influential artists and art historians such as Professors Uche Okeke, Chike Aniakor, Obiora Udechukwu.
.
Lastly, my formative years were spent in the United Kingdom. This inevitably made me more conscious, more aware of my African heritage at an earlier age. I became interested in African history and culture and there were many things my contemporaries who grew up in Nigeria took for granted which I could not.
.
BS: The Waka-Into-Bondage project is a move from the traditional sculpture and paintings for which you are well known. This sculptural installation is one of your first forays into a more conceptual way of working. How does this new direction expand on your work?
.
ND: I have been working for a while in relief and two-dimensional format. As one constantly explores new ideas, different aesthetic representations are formed. I felt this project would be better articulated in a different format than I normally used and a more conceptual format was the most appropriate. It allows for experimentation in a way that the two dimension could not. For example in my recent sculptures such as Dwellings, Doors and Windows (2008)I appropriate harbour pallets, break them down and reconfigure them in a way that evokes traces of the voyage. The blood represents what was shed before, during and after transatlantic trade but also what continues to be shed today. The photographic montage include images I took at Badagry, documentary images and other found images symbolising a continuum of slavery past and the rise in contemporary forms of bondage and exploitation.
.
BS: I remain shocked that Nigeria and Lagos where some of the largest numbers of slaves were taken from its shores neglected to commemorate 200 years of the abolition of slave trading in 2007. It neither featured in the State or the country at large’s cultural, historical or educational calendar. Why do you think there was this monumental omission?
.
ND: You are right to observe that the anniversary did not feature in any cultural or educational calendar. I guess it comes down to our notorious collective amnesia. But one thing is certain: if Chief Moshood Abiola, the famous Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, pan Africanist and politician who began the campaign for the payment of reparations to African nations for three centuries of slavery, colonialism and imperialism had been alive, I am certain that it would have been marked in a noticeably manner in Nigeria and other parts of Africa. Chief Abiola deployed stupendous financial, media, literary and intellectual resources towards this campaign.
.
BS: Whilst the slave trade was legally abolished 200 yrs –– slavery in its contemporary form seems to be on the rise. We see in the media everyday stories about human trafficking of women and children, forced child labour, sex slavery among others. Is this an aspect reflected in your research and your work?
.
ND: As I stated earlier, slave trading may have been abolished by the British parliament 200 years ago, but it is still in practice in certain countries. There are so many countries where the condition of the Black people leaves much to be desired. These new forms of slavery are not yet captured in the current works. I hope to reflect them soon in another set of works.
.
BS: It seems our amnesia is almost total not only in Nigeria but in most countries in Africa. How can we begin to build our present or our future without a critical evaluation of the past?
.
ND: I often wondered whether much has changed in Africa in 200 years. I am referring to the worldview of African rulers. Our rulers played a vital part in the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. They supplied the white slave merchants even after the abolition of slave trading. So many wars were fought for so long in the desperate attempt to procure slaves. All this was to satisfy the greed and vanity of many African rulers who were in turn rewarded with mirrors, gunpowder, alcohol.
.
It is ironic that we continue to bemoan the slave trade because among other factors, an enormous amount of African resources in the form of human capital was transferred abroad and was used to develop overseas countries to the detriment of our own societies. However this trend continues. African resources continue to be used to develop other countries but the African continent. In Nigeria since the return of democratic rule, state governors seem to be competing among themselves over the purchase of properties in places like London, Paris, Cape Town and Potomac Park.
.
Barely a hundred years after the infamous Berlin Conference in 1884 which saw the African continent cut up like a piece of cake, in the 21st century. With China, India and the West insatiable thirst for the continent’s abundant energy resources, it looks like the world is set for another scramble for Africa. Once again African rulers are too enthusiastic to exchange the wellbeing of their people for petrodollars. I fear that few lasting change will occur without cognisance of the past.

• Ndidi Dike was in conversation with Bisi Silva at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, on Saturday 23rd February, 2008.

.

• Words & Exhibition images courtesy of the artist.

.

Waka-into-Bondage is on display @ The Centre for Contemporary Art, 9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Lagos - until 9th March.

• Photo of Ndidi Dike & Bisi Silva © Amaize Ojeikere.
  

Waka-into-Bondage: The Last ¾ Mile

Waka-into-Bondage:The Last ¾ Mile
a solo exhibition by Ndidi Dike

@ The Centre for Contemporary Art

9 McEwen Street, Sabo

Yaba, Lagos

~
2nd February – 9th March 2008
~

"In Waka-into-Bondage, the evolution of Dike’s work takes on a more conceptual framework liberated from spatial constraints both physical and mental to actualise ideas researched over a considerable period such as the effect of slavery on the local population, in this case the coastal town of Badagry. Using ‘loaded’ symbols, she presents two large carved wooden boats, one covered and filled with sugar, the other filled with blood red liquid. In coalescing the evocative potential of her materials attraction turns to repulsion as Dike attempts to trigger traces and memories of our forebearers as they walked the last ¾ mile from Gbereful Island past the point of no return towards the shores of the Atlantic Ocean." - Press Release.

.

Exploring the history and legacy of slavery, Waka-into-Bondage:The Last ¾ Mile is the second part of Democrazy, the inaugural curatorial project of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.

.

Ndidi Dike is a visual artist working in sculpture and mixed media painting. Her new work is a sculptural installation, signalling a turning point in her artistic practice. She is well known for her wood sculpted totem poles (traditionally the preserve of male sculptors in Nigeria) and her wall hanging wood reliefs. Dike's solo and group exhibitions include: Women to Women, Weaving Cultures, Shaping History (2000) University Art Gallery, Indiana State University; and Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa (1995) Whitechapel Gallery, London. She is a member of the Guild of Fine Arts, Nigeria (GFAN) and the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA). Her work is represented in public and private collections in Nigeria and Abroad.

.

Waka-into-Bondage was curated by Bisi Silva. See photos from the exhibition's opening event on the ArtsSpeak Africa Blog.
.

• Exhibition images © Amaize Ojeikere (a member of Depth of Field; see MW's pieces on DOF)