‘My first art piece sold for one shilling’
the energy to look younger. Your art is taking you to another level and the spirit of the art will keep you alive. It reduces your high blood pressure, it is like therapy. It relieves all your pressure when you work. So that will keep being young.
If you were not an artist what else would you have succeeded at?
Well, maybe I would have been a labourer because I don’t have a formal education. I only finished primary school and during that time I always used figures and patterns. Today the education I don’t have I made sure my children have. They have two Masters each and all of them are artistes. Those days when people come and shake our hand and say “your work is beautiful,” that makes our day. That was great achievement for us.
What was the first money you made form art?
The first money I made from art was one shilling in 1965 in Kabba. A reverend sister from Canada bought one of my embroidery pieces written “The Lord is my Shepherd.” She put it on the alter because, she believed it was more than a craft. At the time I was a babysitter and cleaner and did my art in the evening when the baby was asleep. She said people liked the work in Canada and ordered for more. Back then, I made two or three pieces from one yard of fabric which I bought for 23 kobo.
Who encouraged you to continue as an artist?
My mother passed on when I was six years old. I was taken to Oshogbo to stay with my aunt who is into adire making (tie and dye, batik). It was there I met Susan Wenger, an artist and told her I wanted to be like her. She asked me what I was doing and I told her adire. She encouraged me to keep doing more so that she could direct me to more customers. That was how my adire started gradually.
You had a very close relationship with her. How did you manage losing her?
There was a time she was ill and I took her to Abeokuta for medical attention. Having under gone medical treatment, she was jacked back to life. She told me she had property for me inherit them, peradventure something happened tomorrow. She came to Nigeria in 1950 with a monkey doll which she said is her spirit and whatever she did, she did alongside the monkey. Also, she has adopted children whom she handed over to me. I beckoned on her not to die and she responded, saying she was just sharing her property. At that time, I was having my own personal challenges and she was a source of encouragement. Her death actually affected me because she was my confidant.
You said this morning you had to wake up at 3am to cook for your husband. How do you manage that?
When you have understanding on what marriage is all about, your marriage will work. My husband is a policeman who does not like artistes but got married to one. I have to compensate him to allow me do my art work. I actually know that police and artists do not agree. When I met my husband, I asked him why the police always arrest artists, he said artists do not dress properly and they do not shave. As such if they are looking for criminals, they refer to artists. I decided to address my entire artists on how to dress properly. This changed his impression about artist. He does not like to eat outside because I always cook for him.