Fifty-four years after his last exhibition in Nigeria, United States-based Nigerian artist, playwright, theatre director and teacher Prof Oseloka Osadebe, 84, made a big return to the Nigerian art scene with a retrospective solo exhibition, Inner Light, at the National Museum Onikan, Lagos, last Saturday. Osadebe, who taught theatre and set design at various universities, including Jackson State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Tougaloo College, Spelman College and Central State University, retired in 2007 and he has since then been reviving his passion for visual arts at his studio in Jackson, Mississippi, US. He speaks with Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago, curator of his exhibition, on his sojourn to the US, his shift from visual art to drama, why he did not return to Nigeria after the war, his legacy and other issues.
Due to your father’s job as a pastor, you travelled around Eastern Nigeria, describe your secondary school years.
As part of my father’s job, each year we were moved to a different town, like soldiers’ families. We travelled extremely often till I completed Standard Six. I attended a school nine miles outside of Onitsha, called Merchants of Light. It was founded by a missionary who came to Nigeria as a principal to one of the best grammar schools in the area. He served as a principal for quite sometime, all the while saving money to build his own school. The name of the school, Merchants of Light, was inspired by the boat with which he had travelled to Nigeria, as well as his desire to market education as a means to make people smarter.
Demas (Nwoko) and I went to high school together. I was a Prefect at the time and when he came everyone said he was as good in drawing as I was. So, we met, galvanised and became friends right away. And we continued being friends.
At 19, I moved to Lagos. In line with my artistic gift, I was quite skilled in drafting and got shortlisted at my job in The Post and Telegraph for a scholarship in England to pursue a career in drafting and engineering. Unfortunately, as somebody from the East in Western Nigeria, there was a slight issue of tribal profiling going on in my department, which led to a hesitation in my name being submitted for the scholarship.
In order to enjoy scholarships for overseas study, I had to work for the Eastern region government. I was then given a condition by the regional scholarship board that in order to attain the scholarship, I had to spend a year earning the rights to the scholarship, which led to my application and acceptance to attend Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria.
When I got admission to Ahmadu Bello, we travelled by train, but we encountered a ghastly accident at Lalupon when the train hit another train head on and killed so many young people. For a year, my name was listed among those who were killed. Due to the accident, I had to return to the East, and many people did not know I had survived. But I did.
Demas Nwoko and I had been admitted the same year, but I did not make it because of the accident. This resulted in my being a year behind the other members of the Zaria Art Society, such as Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo, and Uche Okeke. I would have been their classmate had I not gotten into the accident.
Because I was so religious and read the Bible, my father thought that God brought me to replace him when he retired as a church minister. Therefore, he used to punish me when I came first in (art) class because he concluded that I spent all my time doing art and leaving out my religious factor, which was important to him. You should have heard him calling me, “Oseloka! Oseloka!” I knew there was no way out. Eventually, he realised that all the things he was trying to do to sidetrack me from art (was not working) and he realised and said: ‘Maybe God wants you to do that.” So, not only did he let me go, he also began to pray for me. Unfortunately, he did not survive to see me graduate.
Now, can you talk about Zaria?
I arrived in 1958 and left in 1962. Zaria was good. I used to have stomach problems so I only ate rice pudding and milk. And I had a straw hat and I used to put it sidewise, and I was almost a tennis star. Then Uche was a bit aloof and eventually he, I and Demas Nwoko became very close. There are a number of photos with us three.
What brought about the establishment of the Zaria Art Society? Historians looked at that society as being the bedrock of the contemporary art movement in Nigeria. What made you become a member and what was special about the group’s outlook? Why was the term of “Rebels” given to your group? What were you rebelling against?
We had professors, who knew it would be helpful for us to form some society. There were students, who were very good and clever and Uche Okeke was quite ahead of us. He had like a sixth sense, and he worked very hard and also formed a small group of his own. We all looked up to him because he did not make mistakes and worked very hard. Those students like Uche, who were a year or two ahead of us, had the courage to challenge the professors. There was a head of department, who had an exhibition at an advanced age. Uche and Demas took him to task. His paintings were very good, but the fact that he was more than twice the age of the oldest students and he considered himself a young artist. We said he had no right to do that. Consider the fact that students had the kind of level of education to challenge the professors and not to mention the head of department. Eventually he found out what we were saying about him. But, there was also a great deal of reaction that had some political impact.
The concept of Negritude was growing. Even though we in the arts did not quite comprehend the (entire) philosophical side of it, but we knew that there was something going on at that time in some of the African countries like Senegal. Like Leopold Senghor, who was very powerful and in some ways he was considered as the African philosopher. And Kwame Nkrumah and Azikiwe were very close friends and Nkruma was boasting with a portion of the Bible that says “seek you first, the kingdom of something..” and so unfortunately for him, when he began to say that he was the one spearheading what Azikiwe was doing, then Nigerians rebelled against him. I wasn’t deeply into the political area and I couldn’t quite imbibe strong political views.
So, you eventually graduated from Ahmadu Bello University and got a job teaching art at Nsukka before you got a fellowship to study art in Chicago. Tell me about that experience.
I was now standing on my own. It was 1965. I was very young and those tools that I brought from my mother’s womb were beginning to work. I thought sculpture was it for me and I did bronze casting. The idea of the lost wax process was intriguing to me. That you could melt the wax and then the metal will finally turn into bronze and go into the recesses. And I learned not to make the space so that the bronze would not be too heavy.
The Art Institute of Chicago became very good for me. My Master’s Degree was two years and when I graduated I made a design that I called Iba and it comes from the traditional house. I took my professor to my home in Onitsha, behind St Saviours Church, and he ended up getting his Phd in African Art. My family home is directly behind St. Stephen’s Church.
Why did you pick the iba concept?
Because the original house was the religious enclave where only the man can go in when he is doing some ceremonies and fasting. The design was so good. It’s rectangular and there are vents that protect it. The concept was beautiful. My Master’s thesis was one of the two works selected for exhibition at the Art Institute and I wore a complete white outfit like the people that take the Ozo title. My picture came out in the biggest newspaper in Chicago, what more can you ask for?
So, your Master’s degree was looking at the interpretation of religious motifs in traditional architecture?
Yes. And Uli became popular. Uche Okeke’s mother was a great story teller and he learned a lot from her. He wrote two books on African folktales that I got a lot of inspiration from.
You eventually developed a deeper interest in theatre. How did that transformation happen; from visual art to theatre?
It was inevitable because I needed to get funding. Once I got my Master’s they said they were not going to pay for my doctorate in art, but they would pay for a Master’s in theatre. They knew I was interested in it because I had done some sets while I was in Nsukka, and so Northwestern University opened their arms and received me. But, before that I went to Goodman School of Drama, where I did another Master’s degree. Then when I finished, the Nigerian Civil war was over, but it was not safe to go home so my brothers and sisters said, “don’t come back, or they will draft you into the army”, which was an easy way to get killed.
These are some of the reasons for continuing in theatre, especially when I went to do my doctorate. It made me to spend 30years in theatre. A friend of mine, an artist and sculptor, who was in the Art Institute would always say, “Come home. Come home. Remember you have tools.”
Why did you not go home? After the war there was reconstruction, but you stayed away for over 50 years.
I don’t know. Some of it was like I was conquering a new territory. My theatre focus was in scene design, which was the closest thing to visual art, so that was an attraction. And rightly, I used those skills that I brought into visual arts. It was so interesting to use visual art to create set design.
Reflecting on your long and rich career, what were the highlights in terms of art and theatre – what are you particularly proud of?
I am very proud of the fact that I brought great plays to the schools I worked in. After spending quite a few years in theatre, my concern became creating a legacy.
So what is the legacy you want to leave behind?
I consider everything that I have done, including my exhibition this November, my legacy. I believe I made some important choices, which led to Ikemefuna. My concept of reincarnation as well as other religious and mystical concepts that led to the works that I have done. I have a large work I am currently doing called The Eternal Comings and Goings, which focuses on reincarnation, a topic that is very deep and important to me.
What does the Inner Light series mean to you?
The Inner Light series is about the inner man, if you are familiar with the concept of reincarnation; the fact that God created humans. However, we have to learn to perfect ourselves. There is a personality inside each of us, the soul, which is pure and we humans don’t have the power to dictate to the soul. But, the soul is the real master. But there is a personality, a kind of purifying of this inner man. The soul helps purify us each time we reincarnate; there is a new growing process that gets purified. The soul is God within us trying to help us perfect our outer selves. Jesus Christ is pure enough that he is not going to reincarnate anymore. Every human being has the potential to that, but not everybody will reach the point where they are going to be absorbed into the God-head. The inner man and the inner light; the Eternal Comings and Goings is a step up from Inner Light.
My latest one is the Ugo Oma Negute Ozi Oma, which is essentially about Agbogidi as the King, as well as the symbolism of Ugo (jewel). Therefore, it says Ugo oma that brings ozi oma, a good idea about life.
We have a number of major threads running through your work, such as Inner Light, Ikemefuna, Tree of Life…..Let’s talk about your Piggly Wiggly series; what are they about?
Well, on the surface there is a caricature of the pig’s face which is used, but it is also a mask for every member of the family. They all have a long snout. So, there is a full family just as Picasso had a family of hybrids. You have a son, daughter, grandfather and grandmother. I came across this idea and it was so good. It was as if something was moving my hand. I have never done anything in all my artistic life, which was so quick and so good and all about the same size.
Tell us about Ikemefuna.
This was inspired by two black singers, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. Ray Charles in his book says he didn’t consider his blindness a setback, and Stevie Wonder shares the same mentality. Both men have overcome a setback that often hinders people from achieving fullness of life. Every human being goes through the same thing, except that there are so many people, who do not see the positive in whatever they have. God has created all of those. We go through life and the fact that somebody has any kind of physical impairment…if they come to understand and recognise that there is something positive in that thing, they can overcome that thing. Ray Charles was not born blind. He had sight. But God created us and through understanding things that may look like a hindrance or set back in our lives we come to understand that we can overcome. And the reverse is that if you see that as a problem, it takes away from the kinds of achievement that one would make. So, I am using Ikemefuna as almost a verbatim statement of what Ray Charles and Steve Wonder said. I see that as a big lesson for all of us.
How about the Tree of Life series?
There is a big theme that connects my family. When I was quite young, my parents told me and my sisters that my older sister, when they were playing outside were not alone. Somehow, they would see a young person, who did not have wings that played around them. They didn’t talk to my sisters and brothers, but they kind of mingled in their group. Somehow, when we got older, as teens, we asked our parents, what happened? Why did we not see those angelic beings mingling with our sisters and brothers? The understanding was that they were heavenly bodies, and they were mingling and protecting them. So, my Sister Dora asked, why can’t we see them now? So, the answer was given, now that there are more people in the house, both young and old, there is no need to have the angelic bodies come out and protect them. The elements that will do the protecting are present now.
So, it made sense to me that though the question that Dora asked is still pertinent, why don’t we see them? Are we not pure or religious or holy enough to see those presences? So, the way I used it in my artwork is that Jesus Christ was a baby watching over his mother Mary. He brought a pink gem almost as big as a coconut, and he said to her, this is the symbol of your goodness and purity. Some day you will recognise the importance of what you are and you will appreciate this. In the Bible it was said that Jesus and Joseph were still troubled by the fact that the public was concerned that there was no sexual connection and Joseph was continually worrying about what the public thought – but the point is that Jesus said to his mother that you are as good as anything and I don’t care what anyone says. Jesus gave the gem to the mother. And there is a song that I tried to write where he says to the mother, that someday you will come to appreciate how good you are. You are as good or better than this gem. So, I am combining the two stories.
Do you listen to music when you are doing your creative work?
Oh yes. And let me tell you, when I was at Merchants of Light School, I thought I was going to be a pianist. I played the harmonica and all of those instruments. But one thing or another prevented me from pursuing music. One of them was that my piano teacher was also a student, so when he left, I lost my chance. I am not sure if I might have grown to become a great pianist one day?
What type of music do you like? What is on your preferred playlist?
There was a time I was interested in classical music and I had 50-60 long playing albums, and I played classical music. I had Mozart and Beethoven, and many others. I like Handel’s Water Music. There are a lot of African musicians that I also particularly like.
So, what do you think about America under Trump?
Well, I don’t understand Trump. I am not sure there are lots of people who understand him. And he does not really care whether people like him or not.
Do you think we have made progress, especially considering racism in America?
Since he was elected? I don’t think so.
So what’s life like in the southern part of the United States?
I don’t think it is different from what it used to be, but there are quite a few people who are moving up north. So, maybe they want to consider moving up north for progress.
Well you’re doing great. You have a very independent life here.
I would have been dead if I couldn’t help myself. I thank God. The good Lord is looking after me.
Do you also cook for yourself?
Oh yes. I do some serious cooking. There is a breakfast that I make with sunflower seeds and I have spinach in everything I cook. If you come to my fridge, spinach is the biggest thing in my fridge. I eat it in everything I cook. I am even thinking about learning to put it in ice-cream (laughs). God has blessed me greatly and now I realise that I am not grateful enough, considering what my mates are going through. God has blessed me with patience and told me that good things in life come when you deserve them.
What’s your prayer for this exhibition?
My prayer is for success. Also, that many young people and aspiring artists would get good inspiration and continue to create. I can’t complain when I see and hear about other people having problems. I am 84 almost 85 years old. The idea about having the show is a wonderful thing. It is like a fantastic Christmas celebration. When I was born, God put in both my hands tools and paint brushes. There is so much creativity that God has given me and I cannot exhaust the creative force that God has given to me and which continues to manifest itself.