Rewriting Cultural Narratives
Adedamola Oladele Ogundele strikes you as a young, fun-loving man at first glance but all you need to grasp his persona is a few more minutes of light conversations that run deep in thoughts. Proudly an “Ijesha man”, he is very keen in supporting arts and culture in Nigeria so he founded Asiri Magazine, five years ago. The magazine is a production of Wildeye Creative Solutions Ltd where he works as Creative Director. Ogundele is a frequent face at Freedom Park, Lagos Island for sober reasons such as managing the public relations affairs of the park-like cultural hub and for networking. On one of those moments, he found this reporter and mentioned that Asiri Magazine is five. It could have been 10 years and truthfully so given the ubiquitous nature of the brand in cultural community in Lagos. Explaining his reasons for supporting the arts, Ogundele maintained that he set out to be different right from inception.
Asiri Magazine derived its name from a Yoruba word, “Asiri” which means “secret”. The magazine invariably unearths the secret stories behind many cultural spots and historical artefacts. Ogundele traced the reason for his content to the growing thirst for knowledge of history, heritage and culture. Although when he started the online magazine, people tried to discourage him, telling him he was only wasting his time.
“But something just kept me going on, little appreciation and positive comments here and there kept me growing. It could be better, that’s why I will be here working to make sure it does,” he said.
Highly influenced by his grandparents, Ogundele was taught to take a second look at every situation and to always ask questions. As the Yoruba adage holds, “the one who ask for directions hardly misses his way”. Ogundele kept to the right career path beginning with his undergraduate years at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, living up to the institution’s motto, “For Learning and Culture”. Though his pursuit might not have made him a wealthy man instantaneously, his wealth of friends and associates in the cultural community is quite impressive. For instance, he enjoys a working relationship with Prof Wole Soyinka owing much of it to being one of his media partners for the Lagos Black Heritage Festival.
Commenting on art writing in Nigeria, Ogundele observed that the traditional media had laid a good foundation for new media engagement but he believes that the former should evolve with the changing dynamics in media practice.
For him, managing an online cultural magazine without sponsors can be financially draining. Ogundele also observed that the art scene has developed progressively in the last five years with art exhibitions, festivals, dance and theatrical performances.
For Asiri, starting an online radio and producing well searched documentary movies form the next level. A pilot broadcast on online radio was sustained for four months last year. “We have pioneered a couple of initiatives but some among the few we have on our list include the ‘Colours of the Land Project’ an art initiative we did to celebrate World Tourism Day in (2015),this project was well acknowledged by the UNESCO office in Nigeria,” he said. “When the Ilojo Bar was destroyed on Lagos Island on September 10 2016,we were at the scene a day after the building was destroyed and we kicked off a campaign with Legacy 1999 to bring awareness to the destruction of that heritage site. Our most recent initiative is the ‘Amintacciyar Hanya Arewa’ Project which means ‘Safe Passage to the North’ in English, the main idea is to create narratives around history, art, heritage around northern history and put these information on our website, so much when you search for anything as regards northern Nigeria, instead of seeing the Boko Haram and other vices, what you will see are the beauty of northern Nigeria.”