By
Tajudeen Sowole
When members
of the of Society of Nigerian Artists {SNA}, Lagos State chapter go to poll for
the chairmanship race on Sunday, April 14, 2013 at the Aina Onabolu Building of
National Gallery of Art {NGA}, National Theatre, Iganmu, it would be a
supremacy struggle between the old and young.
Typically, the SNA election 2013
reflects how young artists fight their way for recognition against the hold of
the masters. In this context, one of the most vocal voices in Lagos art scenes
and a well-known art academician, Dr Ademola Azeez is up against Dotun Alabi, a
young, though established artist, but not so new in artists’ unionism terrain.
It’s a bye-election, necessitated by
the vacuum created by the exit of the former chairman, Oliver Enwonwu who,
against all odds - including a waiver of a crucial section of the SNA
constitution – emerged as President of the artists’ national body while he was
a sitting chairman of the Lagos State chapter. More interesting, the two
candidates for the bye-election are from the academia, indicating that the
leadership of the association is going back to the academic section of the
professional body where SNA has its root. In fact the third candidate Kolawole
Kosoko who was said to have withdrawn for one of the two major contenders is
also from the academic.
Aside practicing from the academic
wing, Azeez and Alabi have other things in common: they were ex-secretary
general of SNA, and currently art
teachers at Federal College of Education, Technical, Akoka. For coming from the
same work place to contest for the chairmanship, they have been advised to have
dialogue so that one, steps down for the other. The pressure to step down
seemed to be more on Alabi, being the juniour of the two contenders.
 |
| Ademola Azeez |
“With due respect to the older artists,
we the young ones have always proven that we have a lot to offer SNA”, Dotun
argued during a chat few days ago. He therefore insisted that “I am going ahead
to contest the chairmanship of the SNA, Lagos”. In fact, he fancied his chance
of winning, claiming that “the third contender, Kosoko has stepped down for
me”.
Having served
in the executive once and stayed away from the politics of SNA unionism for
quite some years, what exactly is attracting Azeez to the top leadership of
SNA? “My intention to run for SNA Lagos is borne out of my genuine desire to
lend my contribution to the development of our professional association, SNA
Lagos”, Azees said. Among Azzez’s wish-list if voted in are: “to institute a
culture of support, discovery of talent, mentoring of young artists and mutual
respect between senior artists and young ones; use my experience, intellect,
exposure and connection to increase visibility for Lagos artists; indulge in positive engagement of
artists to make them more socially relevant; have an effective and functional
Secretariat that will drive most art activities for artists.”
 |
| Dotun Alabi |
Parts of Alabi’s manifestoes reads:
“Making members’ health one of my priorities, I wish to start health insurance
scheme for SNA Lagos members; stronger membership drive that will increase in
population so that we have more people paying their annual dues for us to
execute several projects; art exhibitions that would recognize the uniqueness
of every genre such that we have segmented exhibitions rather than have every
artist show under the October Rain yearly exhibition; to get a befitting office
for SNA, enough of squatting at National Theatre, Iganmu.”
The election was scheduled to hold last
month, but ran into hitches, which some members described as in-house politics
of the succession battle ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment