The National Gallery of Art (NGA) last week celebrated the Children’s Day with an art talent hunt painting competition revolving around the theme saying no to hate speech. The ceremony saw rich harvests of artworks doing justice to the theme and showing how concerned the children were about those issues that tend to divide rather than unite. Edozie Udeze reports
In a country where ideas do not last more than a few years before they finally fizzle out, it is most heartwarming that in the past twenty years, the National Gallery of Art (NGA), a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture has been able to consistently sustain its annual Children in Art Talent Hunt competition.
This year’s, as usual was on 27th May being the Children’s Day and held at the NGA Lagos State office at Iganmu. The theme of the painting competition was: Let’s celebrate our differences and say no to hate speech. It was time when children from different schools in Lagos converged and collectively disowned tribalism, hate speech and abuse of one tribe against the other.
The atmosphere was cordial and friendly with children from primary and secondary schools with their parents and teachers presenting various programmes hinging on total entertainment, denouncing hate and proclaiming love. It was good to see how much Nigerian children already knew about ethnic divide in the Nigerian society. It was therefore an apt moment to preach peace, togetherness and tolerance.
The theme was given to each school to draw and paint. The painting must reflect the aversion to hate speech. It was amazing the way the children were able to spell out the theme on canvases. Most of all, their choices of colours belied their ages and classes. You could see clearly the interpretation of the theme by children who are very aware and conscious of their environment. The fact that they realized that hate speech is killing, the fabric of the nation is instructive. They used right and appropriate symbols to situate the theme. They showed their love for Nigeria, but then bemoaned avarice, hate, lack of concern for one another.
As their works hung inside the Aina Onabolu exhibition hall of NGA, their different formats moved people to have sober reflections over the nation where all sorts of social tendencies tend to tear the place apart. Nigeria is at a crossroads and even those classical paintings were clear enough for all to see. The overall winner situated Nigeria in which the three major tribes of Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba have been in the forefront to decide the fate of a nation in the bowel of stagnant growth. The Igbo man in his traditional Ohawfia warrior dress had an oja in his mouth. He blew away his life, but with eyes keen on the national cake. The Hausa man wore his usual babariga with all the regalia of oligarchy and power hunt. The Yoruba man busied himself with a bata drum with his long flowing agbada justifying his love for jollity.
Yet the little children of other ethnic groups in the background tried to discourage the utterances of words of hate. If the elders cannot maintain decorum, at least the younger ones can do better to keep Nigeria as one entity.
In her welcome speech, Mrs. Ekene Okoroma, the head of the Lagos office of NGA and the organizer of the programme, proved that she was elated to see the success of the event in spite of paucity of funds. “For over twenty years, we have done this”, she reminded the august gathering including senior staffers of sister parastatals like the National Council for Arts and Culture, National Institute of Cultural Orientation and so on.
Okoroma said further, “Children’s Day is an annual programme of the National Gallery of Art (NGA). Every station of the NGA nationwide celebrates the children as we are doing on this day. Most organizations celebrate children’s day, but ours is unique and different because apart from the usual jamboree and all around fun package other organizations offer on this day, the NGA is basically an art talent hunt competition. We do this because we want to discover children with talents and potential. And when we find them, we encourage them and follow up on their development. Some artworks that emanated from our Saturday Arts Club have been exhibited abroad in the past years. And today these artists are known globally”.
Over the years, this annual event has helped parents to see where their kids greatest advantage in terms of potential lie. This is why NGA has continued to encourage schools to have Fine Arts teachers, with total focus on directing the pupils on how to zero their attention on their zeal to draw or paint. She said more, “We are therefore saddled with the responsibility of promoting young ones to embrace arts, hence our contributions towards national unity by default revolving around visual arts. The children often unleash their creative abilities using various art pieces to send a message that kicks against the use of hate speech. Indeed in recent times that social media has made the spread of news very easy, it is more imperative that hate speech is totally and comprehensively discouraged via every platform available to us”.
The children felt loved, cherished and cared for, because NGA has created this laudable euphoria. Many of the schools used dances, stage plays and performances to redefine Nigeria. They showed deep appreciation of their local cultures through costumes, songs and stage choreography. Okoroma, moved by all these, added, “Art has proved over the years to be a noble profession. It is an elitist hobby for those into the art collection business. Today and ever since, Artists are among other things well to do and they can raise their heads anywhere in the world. We intend therefore to keep this campaign going by encouraging the children to go into the art profession regardless of what significant people in their loves feel about their choice of arts as a career.
“In Nigeria today”, she went on while commending her sponsors who spent much to ensure the hosting of the show, “art undoubtedly is a strong tool for empowerment, development and national progress. So the choice of the theme ‘let’s celebrate our differences by saying no to hate speech’ is only stating the obvious stance of the NGA as a national organsation for the development, progress and national unity”.
Victor Omoniyi of National Council for Arts and Culture praised NGA for its consistency and told the children to keep the hope for a better Nigeria close to their chests. As the chairman of the occasion, he said, “It is good to catch the children young. Begin on time to show which direction to go in life. This programme is designed essentially to achieve that purpose. This is why UNICEF put today together to give children their due recognition and respect. So, please try to nip hate in the bud. We need love to move on as a nation”.
Awards were given to winners in three categories of secondary, primary and nursery schools who won the painting competition. Dances were also done to douse hate, cool temper and generally relax. Some of the schools that took part included Rahman School, Agege, Park British School, Lekki, Top Laurels High School, Winston Smart School, Iman College, Early Dew Nursery/Primary School. Others were Kid Minister Montessori, Effortwill Academy, Pentecost College, Agege, and others.
The eleven year boy by name Blessed Ajayi who used paper foils to carve different types of animals on stage expressed the hope to be allowed to perfect the art in future. “When I get to secondary school, next year I will improve on it”, he told The Nation. Some of the shows he did on stage confounded many people. Young Ajayi hopes to go places in the future as long as his parents are behind his dream.
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