One-on-one with Jos’ Hassan Roda
Growing up and knowing you were Nigerian because this is all you have known but then also knowing your ancestry rested somewhere else, did that make a difference?
It didn’t really make any difference. I feel Nigerian. I mean, my first language is Hausa. I don’t even know Arabic. I only know how to speak Hausa, Pidgin English and then English. I schooled here. I went to Hillcrest, Jos. I wasn’t based in Kano with the large Lebanese community. I was in based in Jos which had a smaller community. I grew up with other children around me and we mixed well. I have lived here all my life except when I went to study art in Wales. I chose to return to Nigeria because this is the home I know. My father came here when he was 13-years-old. He lived here all his life and died here - my mother also. They are both buried in Jos.
As a child did other children treat you differently?
No, not at all. We all felt like we were one. That’s the surprise of it all. Even when we began secondary and going to different places, we still kept together. We didn’t meet for a long time but when we met, we bonded. I left Hillcrest in 1974 and went to Wales in 1977. The plan was to go film school to become a director.
Why did that change?
When I got to the U.K., I applied at the film school but I couldn’t afford the fees. All my life, I have loved art and have been an artist. I wanted to become an animator. So I went to art school and specialized in illustration. I didn’t go to a university because when you enter a university they specialize you in a certain field. If you are an animal painter, you have learn everything about the animal and all that. I had an imagination and the tutors saw that and picked me out. I went through graphics, then I changed and I went through Fine Art before eventually moving to illustration because it’s an open field.
Would you it allowed you to be more expressive?
Yes it did. But you have to first be able to draw and they don’t teach you that. You have to have that in you. They only guide you so that you can see three dimensional in art, not flat.
I was looking at your works and notice that you use very vibrant colours. What’s the reason?
It’s all from Nigeria. They come from my surroundings and the things I see around me. The colours are vibrant. I have also been influenced by a lot of Nigerian artists and I have seen a lot of different artists. I take ideas from here and there, from their works and try to make something
new out of them.
Do you have a favourite kind of sceneries you prefer to paint?
It depends on my inspiration. One day I’m a realist painter, the next day I’m abstract. Now I love abstract. I don’t know why. I just love to create. When you have an idea it boils in you and you want to be it. If I do six, seven different types of illustration, I get bored. I become a machine. It seems like a routine. But I make sure I can get the fold, and make it come out. Come alive.
Would you say with your works, you attempt to preserve history?
Yes. You see this here, (pointing at an art piece), you know what this boy is carrying?
No. A drum?
No, it’s a chicken house. That was the way it was done back then. I don’t think you see this much nowadays if at all.
What inspires you to do such works and what narratives are you trying to construct?
This is a culture and it will soon fade. Some of them will go or will be changed. I preserve history with my works. The farmer carrying the chicken house was coincidence and I had never seen anything like it before. So I photographed him to do the painting. This girl and her child, I photographed them and they were aware I was doing so. But you have to b careful what you paint in Nigeria. In Bauchi I stumbled on a festival where the men are made up and have to endure beating. I took about a hundred photos and made paintings out of them.
To create these images, do you first always have to take photos or are they your imagination?
In Nigeria people don’t pose for these kinds of pictures and sometimes I don’t work with only one picture. I use several and take what I want from each and combine them to create something. Some think the camera would steal their soul. I have been told this. When I can, I take photos and if not, I use my imagination.
Your works carry strong Northern characters. When you put them up for sale, how do you price them or place their value in terms of money?
Yes, because this is where home is for me. I have been to other parts of Nigeria - Calabar, Port Harcourt, and some others. It is difficult to price them. Not here. Don’t drop prices down to the lowest of the lowest because I need the money. You have to keep a level because if you keep dropping down you destroy the value. I tell artists, “Don’t steep too low.” I understand that we all need money. An artist’s life is not easy. I remember my exhibition with El Anatsui set up by Hilton Hotel Abuja in the 90s. There was he with wood and I with water colours. I wasn’t as mature then as I am now. I realized that the art connoisseurs are in Lagos and hardly ever are in Abuja for such even though Abuja has good artists.
Do you belong to any of the art groups?
No, I refused to belong to any. I prefer to be a freelancer. But I help if I am called upon.
You’ve been on the art scene for about four decades now. What is your take on visual arts in Nigeria?
That’s a hard question. They are beginning to get interest everywhere. Nigeria is an art culture and it’s not just the new generation but from the time of Nok. We have the most beautiful art Nin the world. I understand Nigerian artists and I think something that hinders them from going forward is finance. Abroad you can get finance or from the council.
Have you been inspired or motivated by any Nigerian artist?
Yes.
Who?
Bruce (Onobrakpeya).
How?
I love his works. His works are universal.
What is the first thing that would catch your eye if you had one of his works in front of you?
I would notice the style and then the design and how he interprets it. Also, I like Jimoh Buraimoh.
I notice that you do not title your works. Why is that?
I don’t. I don’t feel the need to title them. They should be free and let people appreciate or interpret them as they want; not according to any title I have given them.