FROM NOVEL TO VISUAL ARTS
If you study literature or colonial history in Africa and you haven’t read Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart, your collection beats one’s imagination. The novel is one of the most celebrated masterpieces by an African and about Africa. Having inspired stage and screenplays in Nigeria and beyond, it has, recently, become the toast of three art scholars namely, Krydz Ikwuemesi, George Oboh and Henry Mujunga. They have critically examined the work and their contribution is not the first of its kind. Illustrations had been made from this book over the years but this current show is a paradigm shift from the usual. First, there are documentations and texts imbued to help in elucidating the content of the literary material. More importantly, it relives the memory of the author through artistic expressions.
“Since culture is the way of life of a people, we must continue to tell our stories for generations to come. The philosophy of the life of Africans is cyclical as the future is in our past and our past is in our present. This is reflective in our names and our age grade system. Our ethnic identities are representation of our aspirations and must not be washed away as we must take control of our history and continue to make the best of our heritage,” remarked the curator, Moses Ohiomokhare in his statement at the private viewing of the works.
The diverse perspective of the artists seemed to have converged on the influence of Uli tradition in their works. In their usage of ink drawings, they projected the images of love, war, friendship, intrigues, loneliness, unity and strength.
“The works in this exhibition teaches us about continuity and change in our culture,” he continued. “They show the cohesion, integration and dysfunction in our society. It also looks at punishment and rewards. The works serve as landmarks and a window into Chinua Achebe’s world as he narrates his story.”
One of the artists, Ikwuemesi, revealed some details about how the idea was developed into a travelling exhibition.
“The arrangement was that each artist would pick a chapter and make drawings of some specific moments in the novel and address the same issues that Achebe wrote about,” he explained. “These issues include marriage, the structure of social organisations, and religion. We are looking at our novelists can become resources in the hands of visual artists. In 2008, we called a conference in Enugu for people to reassess Things Fall Apart. Only few works were available then. We have been showing them in different places from Nsukka to Kampala. We wanted to know how non-ibo artists would interpret Things Fall Apart.”
Ikwuemesi thought the show, which has 75 works on display and limited reprints, would add to the literary appreciation of the work.
“What you have in this exhibition is 75 works of art. We have 25 pieces from each artist. We want to see the connection between the written words and the graphical images. You don’t call them illustrations. They are not illustrations. One of us has done something that tends towards realism. I prefer to see them as real representations of the story. Each artist is not restricted to any chapter.
“We hope our works will be useful for students of literature and criticism who want to explore the relationship between the visual and the literary metaphor. This exhibition is the end of what started in 2008 as a conference. Since Achebe was also the emeritus professor at the UNN, we decided to also have it there.”
One major thematic preoccupation in Things Fall Apart is the infiltration of colonial ideology into the African indigenous value system. It caused ripples and left Africans in the state of inferiority to western culture. Some of the paintings picture this as Ikwuemesi told press men at the pre-exhibition briefing.
“The dissonance in the painting is to interpret what Achebe said about the situation of African culture. It is a way of re-enacting the onslaught of colonisation. We also want to achieve a level of empathy by the kind of elements that we infuse into the work. I see beyond the figures mentioned in the Things Fall Apart. It is an exploration of the story for artistic statements.
“Muduga uses bleach and salt which as corrosive agents. He took the chapters and used them as collage for the works. When you look at his works, you will see excerpts from some chapters. Of course, all the artists are looking at the issue of dualism which is basic for Achebe. It is a fundamental issue in his world view. Beyond that, you will see that the issues of dissonance, conflict, and the decimation of one culture by another is what that unsettling mood of the work stands for.”
This exhibition which runs from June 27 at Quintessence Gallery, Ikoyi will be an avenue to rediscover the African heritage before the colonial interruption in our course of history.