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| Guest Painting |
Penultimate weekend, the White Space, Lagos’s artsy, form-shifting pop up space-for-hire transformed yet again into a time capsule on the occasion of the Modern Day School of Arts’ arts and cultural showcase, a reach into technology of decades past and how same has partaken in the evolution of culture.
The school’s presentation dovetailed into White Space’s presumably annual event window, Big 60, a frothing Thursday to Sunday art/fashion/culture event rollercoaster that runs for 60 days. The tag line of the two months-long event reads, Eat. Drink. Play and this was the case and beyond at M.D.S.A.’s collaboration with the space – the added benefit being a crash course in visual arts, a re-education on just how much our culture as a people has changed, how much of it we may have lost, what we need to appreciate more of.
The White Space’s pristine floors were divided into six sections as was M.D.S.A.’s presentation and indeed the school’s offering of course options, bar two. The school now a year into conceptualisation is working out the kinks of government accreditation, hoping to teach and offer certification in creative writing, fashion design, photography and visual arts. Its presentation was modelled these courses, some of which it currently offers workshops for.
On entering White Space’s interior, to the left, what one first saw mounted on snow white pedestals were ancient-looking typewriters. The typewriters were accompanied by foolscap sheets wildly popular as the notebook of choice in secondary schools, decades ago. The typewriters were pre-set with ink. A notice, beside them called out to guests. “Letters to My Dearest” On the said notice were words, a flashback that provoked nostalgia, of when we typed out clandestinely-exchanged love letters to the one(s) we had feelings for. Our method of communication was intimate, hand-felt. Guests were invited to revisit their high school days of infatuation driven by frenzied hormones and exchange letters, some neat, some blotted with ink.
The next section had hung works by visual artists: Victor Ehikhamenor, Uche Uzorka, Ayoola and Raqib Bashorun. One of the works straddled two of M.D.S.A.’s sections, art and photography, Ehikamenor’s “Their Point of View”, a stunning mixed media on canvas on board creation. The piece, made up of hundreds of rolls of film was the centre and master piece of the photography section, colloquially titled, “Wait and Get” Its notice told of our journey in lights, camera, action, of dark rooms and film in water, “waiting and getting” to the instant, blurry cardboard-like photo file of the Polaroid. Revisiting the era when the then photo-miracle was popular, a Polaroid was set up to take instant pictures of guests. The interesting results had guests looking like they were in a party in the 1980s.
The music, “Ko Me Le” and videography, “Story Land Story Land” section, had mounted on same snow white pedestals, transistor radios and a vinyl disc player that were so old-looking they would have passed for rare, invaluable museum pieces. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s greatest hits blared from a speaker meanwhile. Curiously, when his music came on, gourds of palm wine for sale suddenly had more eager customers. A projector flashed pictures of old television shows and movies in the near distance, alongside. There was a rhythm and flow to the room that was decidedly retro. All the scene was missing was someone in an afro and a pair of bell-bottom trousers. The fashion section came close to this, decking out mannequins in cigarette brown double-breasted blazers, popular with civil servants of a certain age and the adire “iro” and “buba”. The section’s notice read, “Fashion in the time past till date has always been heavily influenced by Western dictates and trends, more so in the decades after independence. In the 60’s &70’s, Nigerian men and women strove to look as civilised, cultured and sophisticated as their English colonial masters, even more so. The dresses were dainty Victorian, sleeves puffy and the over eager would even wear gloves on a hot summer day. (Our all-year long summer) The men’s hats would be wide-brimmed, the suits, boxy and mostly pin-striped; look not complete without smoke pipe for the man who cared for tobacco.Those who had deigned to cast off colonial links at least to their wardrobes, were starkly opposite. Their traditional wears were elaborate, exaggerated. The baban rigas, agbadas, grand, heavily embroidered. For the women, they sported the original Oleku, short Ankara blouses and wrappers, never missing beads and intricately woven hairstyles. It’s been over half a century and not much has changed...” Apt!
As the section’s activities went on inside, an amateur arts session was in full swing in the White Space’s front yard. Artist, Ehikamenor held sway, casually directing an impromptu class. Guests were given paint brushes, paint and a tarpaulin canvass to tease out their inner Da Vincis and that they did, with many first-timers egged on by Ehikamenor’s directions.
This is the very heart of M.D.S.A. and what it aims to achieve: helping individuals find, hone and nurture expression in various creative outlets in an environment that is enabling, encouraging and rewarding. It is the enduring dream of the founder, Adenrele Sonariwo and what has driven her to fight so hard to make M.D.S.A. a reality.
While the creative industry still suffers a dearth of healthy perception and many hurdles lie ahead of this first-in-its-class establishment, with showcases like this, a new dawn may yet rise
The music, “Ko Me Le” and videography, “Story Land Story Land” section, had mounted on same snow white pedestals, transistor radios and a vinyl disc player that were so old-looking they would have passed for rare, invaluable museum pieces. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s greatest hits blared from a speaker meanwhile. Curiously, when his music came on, gourds of palm wine for sale suddenly had more eager customers. A projector flashed pictures of old television shows and movies in the near distance, alongside. There was a rhythm and flow to the room that was decidedly retro. All the scene was missing was someone in an afro and a pair of bell-bottom trousers. The fashion section came close to this, decking out mannequins in cigarette brown double-breasted blazers, popular with civil servants of a certain age and the adire “iro” and “buba”. The section’s notice read, “Fashion in the time past till date has always been heavily influenced by Western dictates and trends, more so in the decades after independence. In the 60’s &70’s, Nigerian men and women strove to look as civilised, cultured and sophisticated as their English colonial masters, even more so. The dresses were dainty Victorian, sleeves puffy and the over eager would even wear gloves on a hot summer day. (Our all-year long summer) The men’s hats would be wide-brimmed, the suits, boxy and mostly pin-striped; look not complete without smoke pipe for the man who cared for tobacco.Those who had deigned to cast off colonial links at least to their wardrobes, were starkly opposite. Their traditional wears were elaborate, exaggerated. The baban rigas, agbadas, grand, heavily embroidered. For the women, they sported the original Oleku, short Ankara blouses and wrappers, never missing beads and intricately woven hairstyles. It’s been over half a century and not much has changed...” Apt!
As the section’s activities went on inside, an amateur arts session was in full swing in the White Space’s front yard. Artist, Ehikamenor held sway, casually directing an impromptu class. Guests were given paint brushes, paint and a tarpaulin canvass to tease out their inner Da Vincis and that they did, with many first-timers egged on by Ehikamenor’s directions.
This is the very heart of M.D.S.A. and what it aims to achieve: helping individuals find, hone and nurture expression in various creative outlets in an environment that is enabling, encouraging and rewarding. It is the enduring dream of the founder, Adenrele Sonariwo and what has driven her to fight so hard to make M.D.S.A. a reality.
While the creative industry still suffers a dearth of healthy perception and many hurdles lie ahead of this first-in-its-class establishment, with showcases like this, a new dawn may yet rise
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