ANNANG ART EXPLODES IN ABUJA
Art aficionados are flocking into Bolingo Hotel and Towers, Abuja, where some high quality art is on display over the past few weeks and according to the brain behind the Exhibition, Hon. Patrick Etette Ineme, he has signed a one year residency with the hotel which will be a prelude to setting up a museum in the Nigerian capital or back in his Ikot Ekpene hometown.
I spent hours relishing the incredible works which I gather has been a permanent fixture in Akwa Ibom state where a centre for art was in the works before the move to Abuja. After what seems to be a successful exhibition, Hon Ineme is concretizing the idea of spending a full year in the capital because “of overwhelming interest by art lovers”. The chief operating officer at the Hotel, Ms Dezray Naidoo confirmed that a one year residency at the top hotel has been agreed with the TNY Gallery of African Cultural Heritage centre under the aegis of Hon. Iname, a one time member of the House of Representatives for Ikot Ekpene Obot-Akara and Essien Udim federal constituency between 2007 and 2011.
Honourable Ineme has virtually abandoned his political career to pursue his love for art and he wants to “engage the youths in cultural and historical research at Ikot Ekpene” but the Abuja expedition is concerned with opening a steady market for his works because he main coordinates the works of craftsmen of Annang, the same area that former Governor Godswill Akpabio hails from. And he has discovered that the market is potentially huge, judging from the interest shown by foreign art buyers who came to the exhibition.
In a 200 page, 12 chapter Compendium of Annang Culture edited by Patty Etette Ineme and Joseph Udondata, Victor Akpan who wrote chapter 11on the Annang Economy says that “The arts and crafts of Annang; people have a pride of place amongst better known traditional arts of Africa. The Annang artist indulged in wood carvings as well as funerary art and sculpture such as polychrome cement sculptures for grave monuments and other decorative figures. Ikot Abia and Otoro for instance, are known for mass production of soft wood dolls. The Ekpenyong clan villages in Essien Udim area produce raffia fiber and other house-hold clay utensils, while Urua Inyang in Abak is famous in the production of skin covered masks”. The writer added that ‘The colonial anthropologists and art collectors such as K.C. Murray have made Ibibio masks of which Annang masks are prominent, well known by art collectors and scholars worldwide through the classificatory name of ‘Ibibio masks’ (Eyo 1977).”
On display at the exhibition are a range of raffia made masks, so huge and so interesting that some of the products are scheduled to go for international exhibitions in Germany very soon. Hon. Ineme wants Nigerian governments whether local, state or federal administrations to take art collection and exposition more seriously, especially by taking interest in buying art works as gift items to foreign dignitaries.
This, he believes will empower the artists and encourage younger and upcoming professional craft makers to excel. The Curator who comes from an Ikot Ekpene royal linage has also set up an extension in the traditional setting of Games Village art centre to expand his sales network. He says that what he does essentially is to produce the concept of the work and then get the artists to produce for him. A towering painting of the present Inspector general of Police, Mr. Ariase looms large over the Bolingo art centre where his works are attracting serious attention from art critics and art lovers.
To understand the intricacies of Annang Art, it is necessary to understand the cultural dimension of the area and the authors of the Compendium have done just that in the Chapter 12 of the book titled Annang: A wealth of Tradition and Custom. According to the writer, Dominic Umoh, “Annang nation is one of the two major ethnic groups of Akwa Ibom state of Nigeria. Annang ethnic group comprises eight Local Government Areas: namely Abak, Ikot Ekpene, Essien Udim, Ika, Obot Akara, Etim Ekpo, Oruk Anam and Ukanafun. The occupants of this territory speak a language that goes by the same name Annang. Hence the term Annang may refer to many things. It denotes the whole land mass of the territory in the sense of expanse.”
The people have a wealthy cultural heritage and “the Annangs have formed theirs are related to daily life and expectations; they single out the people as unique in lifestyle. This is because the people have different modes of behavior in different circumstances. This is culture in a nutshell.”
I loved every moment I spent at the exhibition and now that they are going to spend a year at Bolingo, I will make it a habit of going to see what is new and what other attraction that Hon Patty Etette Ineme has come up with. However at the moment all I can say is that Annang art form is art at its best. And I mean it.
Finally it is important to note the extent to which the editors of the compendium went to produce the important publication which apart from anything else is a great service to the people of Annang and its culture, and Nigeria’s cultural history. Hon. Patty Etette Ineme, a graduate of Philosophy at the University of Uyo and an MBA from the University of Calabar with his co-editor Dr. Joseph Udondata who teaches English at the University of Uyo.
What a double barrelled success story that will ignite the art history of the South South and help shape the future of contemporary art of the country generally.