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| Airat Olaide Abanikonda-Adeyeye's painting of 'Oranmiyan' |
Deep
into cultural values of Yoruba, artist Airat Olaide Abanikonda-Adeyeye’s works
of paintings, being presented alongside archival photographs expand
documentation of the people's fading heritage.
Though lacking in contemporary presentation of
visual contents, Abanikonda-Adeyeye’s solo art exhibition titled Yoruba
Arts, Tradition and Cultural Heritage, currently showing at National
Musueum, Onikan, Lagos enriches and expands narratives of native values. Trained
at Goldsmiths, University of London, U.K Abanikonda-Adeyeye, 75, had
33-year-career in industrial design and printing before becoming a full time
studio artist.
In visual contents of paintings and cut-out
from archival photographs, Abanikonda-Adeyeye's art revisits the connection
between yoyal Yoruba values and the
people's traditional art and heritage. Mounted on simple black frames, the
paintings depict Yoruba teaditional rituals, sites and festivals or iconic
names in the people's heritage.
Presented in typical old fashion, which
perhaps appropriate the traditional visual context of the exhibition, among the
works is the artist's painting representation of a festival in honour of the
monarch, Obalufon Alaiyemore. Alaiyemore is described by the artist as
"the son of the 5th Ooni (4th-5th century).
Other works in combined photographs of artefacts,
sites, festival and rituals bring to the space documentation of old and
subsisting yearly festivals. Among such
works are 'Pictorial History of Yoruba Race', 'Creation of Human: Obatala',
'Olojo Festival (Ojo ti olojo da ojo), a tribute to the current Ooni, Oba
Ogunwusi, among others.
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| During the opening of Yoruba Arts, Tradition and Cultural Heritage at National Museum, Onikan, Lagos... Saturday. |
In pictoriaI are 'Aje Ogunluso Festival
Procession', 'Aje Festival In Procession with Yoruba Actors', ' 'Osun
Osogbo Festival', 'Odun Ifa Festival',
'Great Lisabi Sports and Entertainment', 'Ojude Oba Festival (The Regberegbes),
'Alagemo in Procesion', 'Egungun Festival', 'Eyo Adamu Orisa' and 'Oke'Badan
Festival'.
An artist whose brush strokes populate her
canvas with crowds of figures, Abanikonda-Adeyeye is quite a distant away from
the mainstream art circuit'a presentation of visual contents. However, whatever
the presentations of some of the festival pictures lack in graphical details in
the cluster og images, her paintings
make up for that in quite a number works in crowded figuratives.
Ever wonder what the progenitor, Oduduwa
looked like? Abanikonda-Adeyeye has an answer in her painting titled 'Oduduwa',
which depicts a figure with feminine physique covered by white robe of no
specific design.
The guest of honour for the exhibition's
opening, Prince Yemisi Shyllon echoed the value of traditional settings in
leadership. "Our Obas are not thieves and our culture not fetish".
Shyllon, a well-known patron of art and culture was more emphatic in Yoruba
language. "E ye pe asa wa ni ebo (our culture is not fetish). Shyllon also
clarified that "our culture is not religion; Ifa is not a religion; it is
philosophy". The religious aspect, he explained, "is only a part of
our culture"
For the exhibiting artist whose exhibition
marks her 75th birthday, Shyllon argued that "this is the way to celebrate
birthday". He told the artist: "You are a good representation of
Yoruba race".
The exhibition, Abanikonda-Adeyeye said is
strictly a celebration of her collection in Yoruba arts and heritage. But
exactly what would she do with the works, particularly her paintings.
"They are not for sale, but to ramain in my collection", she said.
However, she hoped that some of the paintings might be among the collection for
the new Shyllon Museum being built at Pan-Atlantic University, Ajah, Lagos.
The artist's profile describes her as the
first Nigerian woman artist to design postage stamp.
Her
33-year career include working at Nigerian Security Printing and Minting,
Lagos; De La Rue and company, Basingstoke, among others.
Adeyeye was the first Nigerian woman artist to
design postage stamp. t, history must
preserve and revere this woman of substance whose career spanned over several
decades, seeing her as a finisher; at Times Press Apapa, a designer and window
display Lady, at Leventis Stores Marina, Trade and Industry as a typist and
royal borough of Kessinton and Chelsea, London, Nigerian Security Printing and
Minting, Lagos through De La Rue and company, Basingstoke, where she rose to
the post of Assistant General Manager, security Document and retired as
Management Staff, Assistant General Manager, in the same organisation.
She had her first art exhibition titled Miss
Nigeria, in1975 at Royal Gallery, parliament Square, London.
-Tajudeen Sowole.
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