By Tajudeen Sowole
When the prestigious
knighthood by the Queen of England holds in June this year, two Africans whose
works in art and design are highly revered, globally, would assert the
importance of Africa on the world's contemporary creative landscape. Nigerian-British
artist, Chris Ofili and his Ghanaian counterpart, architect David Adjaye, also
based in the U.K are on the list of the Queens’s
knighthood honours, an event that marks the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.
Adjaye, whose works in public spaces across
the world are well known crowns his revered spot in architecture as the lead
architect of the newly opened Smithsonian's National Museum of African American
History and Culture in Washington D.C,
U.S. Ofili, a Turner prize-winning
artist who has worked with the architect on the Nobel Peace Centre
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| Yoruba sculpture-inspired design of
National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, U.S.
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in Oslo and
The Upper Room installation (1999-2002), is also being recognised in the
Queen's Honours list as CBE.
The knighthood, which traditionally holds in
June during the Queen’s official birthday will also honour veteran
photographer, Don McCullin, who recorded conflicts in Cyprus, Vietnam and
Africa in the 1960s and 70s; Jenny Waldman, the director of 14-18 Now, who
played a great role in in the UK- creativity of the First World War period;
co-founder of Lisson Gallery, Nicholas Logsdail, and the artists Bob and Roberta
Smith and Ryan Gander.
Interestingly, Ofili and Adjaye always meet on
the journey through the landscape of creativity. For example, Adjaye designed
Stephen Lawrence Centre, London, U.K, facility in the memory of a black
teenager who was murdered in racially motivated attack. On the same tragic
subject of Lawrence - who aspired to become an architect - Ofili's painting No
Woman No Cry (1988) was inspired by the plight of Lawrence's mother,
Doreen.
In fact, the painting, which derives its title
from Bob Marley's 1974 hit No Woman No Cry, was listed among the works
that won Ofili U.K's most prestigious art award, the Turner Prize.
Generating emotive depth, the work, done in
acrylic, oil, resin, polyester, paper collage, map pins and elephant dung on canvas
depicts tears rolling down the cheek of Doreen. And the tears: tiny reproduced
pictures of the murder victim, Lawrence.
Recall that after 13 years of trial and
retrial, two of the five suspects, Gary Dobson and David Norris were found
guilty of Lawrence’s murder and sentenced to 15 years two months and 14
years three months, as teenage convicts.
While Ofili's art is yet to be felt, directly
on his native Nigerian soil, Adjaye, interestingly, has extended his work to
Africa, Nigeria specifically. Adjaye is the designer of one of the newest
buildings Alara Contemporary, in central business district of Victoria Island, along Olugbade Street, Lagos.
And more profound in Adjaye's African identity
of his work is the recently opened Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture, Washington. A three-tiered structure, the motifs,
Adjaye told Smithsonian is inspired by a Yoruba sculpture.
Conspetualised over 100 years ago, the museum,
in the last 15 years got accelerated attention when former president of U.S,
George Bush signed its construction into law. From the assumption office of Barack Obama's administration till the opening
last December, donation had been given by both government private sectors for
its construction.
The features of the museum design, which
derives its architectural contents from diverse culture also has European link.
"From one perspective, the building’s architecture
follows classical Greco-Roman form in its use of a base and shaft, topped by a
capital or corona," the museum states on its website. "In this case,
the corona is inspired by the three-tiered crowns used in Yoruban art from West
Africa." The sculpture from an unknown artist, that inspired the central
motifs, was found in Ile-Ife, Osun
State, southwest Nigeria, and reflects crown of an Oba (King).
Adjaye, born 1966, had his studio's first solo
exhibition, Making Public Buildings, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in
January 2006. After a brief working period with David Chipperfield (London) and
Eduardo Souto de Moura (Porto), heteamed with William Russell in 1994 to form
Adjaye & Russell, in North London. In year 2000, the partnership ended, and
Adjaye established his solo studio,
which has been runing till date.
Ofili, born 1968 and 1993, came into the radar
of art world after his paintung The Holy Virgin Mary, became an issue, which
generated in a lawsuit between the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, and
the Brooklyn Museum of Art, in 1999 during a group exhibition, Sensation.
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