About Me
Ndidi, what is your earliest recollection of the moment in which your interest in art manifested?
I remember that around the age of 5 or so, I always enjoyed any activity that required the use of my hands. I always seemed very attracted to bright colours and different shapes.
Was this interest nurtured at school?
Yes, I remember that in primary school, during art classes, I liked playing a lot with coloured paper, crayons, clay, paper mache. I always found it very exciting and engaging. Then in the early years at secondary school in England, I also spent a lot of time making collages. I dabbled a little in poetry, embroidery and learnt to play the piano. The subject was called interdisciplinary enquiry. I loved the sense of freedom of interpretation, of exploring different media and I always felt a sense of peace during creative processes. I existed in a world of my own.
So right from day one you knew that art would be a life long endeavour?
Yes, I believe that every individual possesses a supreme gift within them, an innate energy - some people call it talent - that has its own sense of direction. I believed that mine was anything that was creative. On my return to Nigeria, I had a private teacher as art was not available on the school curriculum. This provided me with the opportunity to experiment with a diversity of materials such as coloured glass beads, shells, seeds, and enamel paint before going to study art at the tertiary level.
I obtained a Diploma in Music Education majoring in voice from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, before being admitted into the B.A Fine & Applied Arts course. My expectations about what I could learn to help nurture and exploit my creative inclinations were high. I was energetic, confident and optimistic about the path that I had started.
My university experience was not as challenging as expected. The structure and teaching was still grounded in Beaux Art conservativism. Nevertheless, I was interested in exploring how different media can be incorporated into a traditional painterly style. During this period, I had no interest in sculpture.
With your formal education behind you what did you do after graduation. With little real world support or well structured institutional framework in the country, what were the early years after university like. How did you sustain yourself?
After graduation, I did the obligatory 12 months National Youth Service and continued with my mixed media paintings during my service. I had decided to become a professional studio artist based at home in Owerri, Imo State after service. All the works made during my service culminated in my first solo exhibition titled Mixed Media Expose, 1986. I had the full support of my beloved late Mum and Dad and also through the sale of my artworks I was able to make a living.
When and how did wood become the predominant medium that you work in.
This question in part can be answered by a quote from Chike Okeke "she, more out of an unquenchable thirst for newer forms, than from a stylistic flight from Anatsui, has turned full course pulling ceramics, painting, mixed media and furniture making along the whirlwind path to personal Lexis and sculptural eloquence. " (September 1993).
The creative energy within me constantly enables me to push aesthetic frontiers in media e.g. sculpture which at that time appealed to my senses regarding new found sensibilities and artistic challenges of wood manipulation, with its innate colour vocabulary using surface techniques, design, patterning etc.
Since the early days, your work has changed considerably and you have participated in a substantial number of exhibitions. Which ones have been the most memorable?
I have had 10 solo exhibitions between 1986 and 2002 and 57 group exhibitions between 1986 and 2005. One of the most memorable exhibitions was a solo exhibition in 2000, at Galleria Romana, Lagos. It was declared open by the then Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Ambassadors, cultural attachés, captains of industries, critics, colleague, print media, all major TV stations in Nigeria attended. It was unprecedented in the history of exhibition openings and the recognition gave me and my work more visibility.
I will also like to single out my visit in 1994 to Senegal for Tenq a workshop for painters and sculptors which acted as a prelude to the Africa 95 season held in Britain. It was an exciting and engaging experience which provided the opportunity to meet and work with colleagues from the Francophone countries, Southern Africa and Europe notably with artists such as Mustapha Dime, El hadji Sy, Souleymane Keita, Fode Camara, David Kolowane and Yinka Shonibare.
I will never forget my meeting with the sculptor, the late Mustapha Dime (Sculptor) and visiting his studio on Goree Island inside a cliff. It was a great experience and I appreciate the professional advice that he so generously shared with me.
Outside your schedule as a fulltime professional artist what other activities have you pursued?
As I gained more experience and visibility I had the opportunity to work with national and international art facilitators, curators etc in diverse capacities such Arts Advisor/Consultant, Exhibitions Jury panel. I have attended and participated in Seminars, Symposia International Workshops and Lectures.
A conversation with Bisi Silva.