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| Chief Mrs. Nike Okundaye |
*You celebrated 62nd birthday recently. Looking back, is there anything
you would have done differently?
I don’t think there is anything I could
have done differently because at the end of the day, everything has worked out
well for me. For this, I thank the Almighty God for His mercies and kindness
over my life in the last 62 years.
*What has life taught you at 62?
At 62, life has taught me many lessons.
Whatever one finds in life is for a moment, no condition is permanent.
Therefore, one can work and change his condition. Destiny is our in our
hands. This gives me a lot of strength to go on everyday despite challenges. I
did not have much education, but with hard work, God has helped me. It is also
because I stayed focused to this goal and my love for arts. Things may not look
good today, but they are challenges for us to learn from. Challenges are things
that drive us to our ultimate destiny. So I will say that till art transforms
ordinary woman, children, I will keep working.
*You always look so cheerful with the
stream of visitors coming to your gallery. What is the secret?
Hard work, Humility and of course,
following what I believe is my passion right from childhood.
*Do you ever get pissed off for
instance with the guests and art collectors visiting your gallery every day.
When and how?
It all depends on situation and time.
However, as an artist, I have more things that make me happy daily than those
that put me off.
*There are too many versions of your
background. Can you now throw real light on your background?
I quite agree with what you say because
of many journalists that come often to interview me. My background however is
like this. What I am doing today did not just start recently. As a matter of
fact, I started my sojourn into arts when I was just six. Because I lost my
mother in life early in life one of my mother’s sisters had to bring me to
Osogbo. You know, Osogbo has a history because of its rich art and cultural
heritage and the fact that it was one of the centres for Yoruba artistic
heritage.
It was while I was in Osogbo as a young girl
that I heard about the late Susanne Wenger and her husband Ulli Beier. Up
till today, I consider them the main the major catalyst of Nigerian art
movement. The extra moral classes that Beier conducted in those days was
what help art in Nigeria to blossom. They identified those talents and built
them in arts. Today, as you know many of them have become international
artists.
For me, Susanne was the one that I
derived inspiration from specifically; not only I but I guess other artists. It
was then that I said let me go and grow up with her because of the way she
embraced everybody and Yoruba religion and culture. Honestly, she truly
inspired me during my stay with her. That was how I started with arts. But let
me equally say that from the very beginning my family is into craft art
especially where I come from in Ogidi Ijumu, Kogi State. My first effort were
in weaving, then from weaving I moved into Adire (indigenous textile
designing) But later, I discovered the Batik, which I called the loss wax
method . But some people prefer to call it Campalla. Although it as by
accident, but before you know it, that was how people started calling me Mama Adire
up till today. The Adire has carried me to so many countries of the
world. Apart from that, I also do oil and acrylic paintings. We have held
so many exhibitions in my gallery since we opened. Some featured my works and
other Nigerian and foreign artists.
*You mentioned late Susanne Wenger. A
lot of Nigerians still remember this Austrian woman who lived in Osogbo. What
was life like when you are growing up with her?
Late Mama Susanne as I told you came to
Nigeria in the 1950s. Originally, she came to study and know more about African
people. Before she came, she was a professional painter. But she came for the
love of arts and Africa. When she saw the beauty of African culture and arts,
she decided to stay here and gave her whole life dedicated to it. One thing
that everyone knows is that she was not pretending. Before she died, she
dedicated everything including her whole life to the Osun goddess.
Through her work, she put a lot of life
to Osun River. Her work and activism have made Osun (Grove) one of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized
heritage. She once stayed in Ede and before she died, she was an Obatala
priestess. As I am talking with you, Osun has been recognized world over. She
put Osogbo on the world tourism map. Nigerians should always be grateful for
her. She has also done a lot for me. She helped to ensured that all the artists
in Osogbo and Nigeria could forge ahead as one. During her life time, when you
asked Mama Susanne where is her family, she would always say the artists. She
is truly a mother to all the artists and she prefers Nigerian artists than
going back to Austria, her home country. To me, growing up with her gave me the
greatest inspirations. What I am today is as a result of the inspiration that I
got from her. You know, because of her dedication to Yoruba culture, the late
Ataoja of Osogbo admitted her as a full citizen and native though she is a
white woman.
*Why did you build this imposing
gallery when you have such edifice in Abuja and Osogbo?
It was basically to give something to
the arts and culture, something that people will look at as a model and may be,
emulate. I know, like you said, that I have such edifice in other places but
this is a different thing. For instance, I know that Nigeria has a lot of
talented youths, creative minds. But many of them have not been discovered. So
this building is dedicated to arts and culture in this country. It is for
everyone to come and express their creativity. This is the journey that I set
to do in my life. Over four decades ago, it started. I am happy that the fulfilment
has come. God has granted my prayer. Also, one of the memorable places that
fired my zeal to build the gallery was the Convent Garden in London African
Centre. If you go there, you will see all kinds of works and beautiful
paintings from the ground to the top floor. You will see paintings hanging all
over the place. After staying there, I kept dreaming of that place. I kept
dreaming that one day, I will build a gallery in Nigeria that will actually
represent that kind of project in terms promoting arts and offering an
opportunity to younger artists to trade their talents. Also, if you go to a
country like Kenya, you have a similar thing. I think they call their own,
Heritage. They have all sorts of arts and cultural heritages well preserved there.
I felt that if a big gallery like this can be built by the East African nation,
we can have same in Nigeria. So I told myself that it must come to pass. I
thank God He has given me the grace to accomplish it.
*What are the challenges artists face
in Nigeria?
Without even talking about it, many
people know that finance is the greatest problem that young artist face. I think
it will be very good if government and banks can develop products and
programmes that will help not only artists but all creative people in this
country. That will go a long way to solve some problems for young artists.
*Some people hold the view that Nigerians
have problem of appreciating works of arts. What is your view?
I think I will not blame the people who
hold such view. Why? Because if you look at the legacy of not only Hubert
Ogunde but others and see the way their works have been treated you will
discover we still have a long way to go. If you leave property for your
children, it is their right to protect it. That is where I will appeal to
government to do more in helping protect the rights of artists. In many cases, artists’
rights in this country are violated. We should also stand up just like what
other countries are doing to protect intellectual property.
*What type of artwork will one find in
Nike Art Centre?
For now, we have uncountable works of
different types of paintings, sculptures, installation and all other types of
arts works that you can imagine. We equally hope that we will continue to
improve with time and demand. There will be more works because, like I said, it
is also offering a lot of young artists the opportunity to showcase their works
as well as other opportunities to see what others are doing with their talents.
On the types of services that the gallery will be providing in the future will
include, hosting art residency programs, art healing, art café, exchanges,
international workshops, art colloquium, cultural performances as well as
other events that will promote the visual arts sector in the country.
Fact files of Chief Mrs Nike
Okundaye
*
In 1974, Nike was one of the ten African artists who toured and taught arts in
various crafts institution in the USA. These tours were sponsored by the United States Information Service (USIS), Lagos. These
trips took Nike to 50 states of America including the Ice regions of Alaska and
the Virgin Island of America, conducting workshops and delivering lectures in
schools and communities centres.
*
In 1981, Nike’s work won the first price during the South West Arts Festival in
Washington DC, USA and she was awarded many prices of honour at the end of the
festival.
*
In 1983, the National Arts Council Lagos, sponsored Nike to represent Nigeria
at a workshop held at the museum of Natural History, New York. During the
period, her works attracted many art collectors.
*
In 1985, Nike was one of the six women artists who exhibited at the African
Heritage Kenya, during the World Women Conference held in Nairobi. The United
Nations sponsored her trip to that conference.
*
In 1986, Nike was the only Nigerian woman who represented Nigeria in an
exhibition featuring African Centre, London. That exhibition was sponsored by
Akin Mama Wa Africa, London.
*
In 1989, Nike and Sakari Douglas Camp were the only Nigerian women artists who
represented Nigeria in an exhibition held at the women museum in Washington DC,
USA.
*
In 1991, The United States Information
Agency (USIA) sponsored Nike’s educational visit to many institutions of higher
learning and museum in the USA. This trip again took Nike to Washington DC to
lecture and conduct workshops at the Howard University of Maryland and the
Rhode Island school of textile.
*
In 1992, Nike was the only African who represented the continent of African in
an exhibition organized by BMW Company, Munich Germany, during their
anniversary celebration. She was accompanied by her cultural troupe.
* In 1994, during the
celebration marking the 50th anniversary of UN, Nike was one of the
50 artists selected to exhibit their work in a film, a documentary in-put for
the anniversary was exhibited in South Africa.
* In November 1994, Nike exhibited her
works at the Royal York hotel, Toronto Canada, during the 37th
annual conference of the African studies association of USA and Canada.
* In June 2000, Nike was invited by the
Federal government of Nigeria to supply all the textile materials, which she
designed for the Nigerian pavilion at the Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. Her
art works were also on display during that Expo in Hanover, Germany.
* In 2000, she was again
invited to Italy by the CISV of Italy and Caritas of Italy to organize art
exhibition and workshop in Turin to address the problem of the female
prostitution in that country. She mounted these art exhibitions which were
largely attended.
* In 2002, Nike held an art
exhibition at the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in Hollywood, Los Angeles,
California, USA.
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