Category: Life – The Midweek Magazine

Nollywood actor Muyideen Oladapo (aka Lala) staged a   performance of  Tyrone Terence’s A Husband’s Wife at the Creative Arts Theatre of the Univeristy of Lagos (UNILAG). Paul Ade-Adeleye and Oluwatoyin Ajibola report.

It is common for drama enthusiasts to be drawn towards theatre performances to ease tension.  That was the mood at the Creative Art Theatre of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), for two days when Tyrone Terence’s A Husband’s Wife was  staged by Dapson-One Theatre.

The play, directed by Muyideen Oladapo, thrilled spectators, including Helen Paul (popularly known as Tatafo) and Nolywood actress Taiwo Aromokun.

Terence, of Jamaican-Nigerian descent, who also studied at UNILAG, has to his credit, such engaging plays, as Private Lies and A Pound of Flesh.

A Husband’s Wife chronicles the rapid escalation of disunity in the 22-year-old marriage of Femi and Tomi Williams. Privy to information from her friend, Sandra that her beloved husband, Femi (Segun Adeyemi) has been romping wantonly in the adulterous fraternity of an illicit affair with a younger woman, and that the woman is in fact pregnant, Tomi (Oyinade Adegbenro) confronts him as he is about to retire to bed for the night. He is displeased at being confronted so bluntly and he denies all her allegations.

Subtly, she discards her impolitic approach and importunes him less hostilely. He slips and unwittingly reveals that he indeed has a lover named Linda and that she is 25 years younger than he is. As soon as she discovers his infidelity, Tomi, fraught, flies completely off the handle, but an unruffled Femi tries to artfully lay the blame in her court. It works, she softens, and they retreat to bed to ease their frayed nerves coitally.

Afterwards, they gambol a bit, but their truce is only ephemeral, and soon enough, discord sets in again. Back and forth they play the blame game until Femi, quite fed up, packs a few clothes, dresses up, and declares he is moving out to stay with Linda. When a phone call comes in from Femi’s lover, it turns out that Linda is none other than Tomi’s friend, Sandra. As Femi is about to leave, Tomi beseeches him to tarry a bit. He grudgingly agrees to wait.

Meanwhile, Tomi goes out only to return looking dapper and wielding two glasses of wine which she offers to Femi, proposing a toast to their 23rd wedding anniversary. He takes a glass not knowing it is poisoned, drinks, and after much grandstanding, dies. Tomi too, after weeping and wailing, dramatically downs her own glass too, reels off a terminal soliloquy, and dies a la finis.

It was never going to be a cake walk directing a play with only two characters, and in which all the actions occur in one location; the bedroom. The play shot off with a semi-graphic pantomimic opening ‘glee’ (a short prologue performance), a pas de deux of detachment depicting a young man (Adeshina Adelekan) proposing to a young woman (Damipe Koya). She accepts and he suddenly adopts a detached attitude towards her. She employs all the wily tricks in the book to score him, but he is resolute – a herculean feat; for she is as sultry as they come.

Just as he is about to be praised for his resistance, the audience finds a moment of weakness attending his erstwhile commendable self-control. He gives in briefly, but she is no Scheherazade and he resumes dismissing her serially till, exasperated, she removes her wedding ring, drops it on the floor, and sways all her assets of discord off. It was a most beautifully enacted scene, but the stagehand who should have removed the discarded ring during the lights out preceding the first scene appeared to have been either ensconced in a slumber, or carried away by the performance. Why else would he refrain from evacuating the ring after said glee, and allowing it remain for the first real scene of the play? This abandoned ring remained on stage long after Tomi and Femi had appeared, wearing rings of their own. Thankfully, the culpable stagehand recovered from his costly kip and made haste to evacuate the assaultive ring at the next available lights out.

Several futile powers conspired against Oladapo to bring the performance to ruin. The theatre was designed for primary ventilation via air conditioners, but the striking power sector, and perhaps, empty petrol stations had the cooling systems out of kilter. They delivered their lines effectively, hardly ever stuttering; were exculpable from the all-too-common crime of dropping tempo; and frequently had the audience hollering gleefully.

It was simply Brechtian, the way the play was directed. As such, Oladapo stuck to epic theatre conventions by breaking the fourth wall. This entailed him connecting the audience to the actions on stage not emotively, but by direct involvement. He frequently moved the actors to step out of their characters to address the audience and try to sell them their arguments which the receptive audience, listened to with rapt attention and replied accordingly. It was therefore no cinema scenario; the audience was a component of the performance. While an actor would visibly and literally step out of their character, the other would freeze play until the former had literally mimed a movement of stepping back into the character. It was a beauty to behold. Oladapo paid unmitigated attention to details. He directed the play by the book and obeyed all the rules.

The technical director, Stanley Ezihie dotted all his ‘I’s and crossed his ‘T’s – a sure sign of assiduity. Without doubt, the theatre group was working on a shoe-string budget. Still, he was able to pull hares out of his hat while constructing the set. In what was arguably his lone chink, perhaps due to pressure for time, the paint he used on the set had not dried when some of the props were placed on stage so one would notice a prop or a costume blessed with a sullying patch of semi-ostensible yellow paint. Notwithstanding, he put on a good display of lights on proper cues and deserves a slap on the back for the part he played, just as the costumier, Mayowa Ogundipe pulled off a tidy job of aging Adeyemi into the character of Femi. Trivially, there was a bit to be desired with her work on Adegbenro.

For a debutant theatre group as Dapson-One Theatre, the performance ‘broke legs’ – as thespians are quite fond of chirping. It is not every day that a theatre goer is treated to a performance where the audience goes into a frenzied clapping and cheering fit at the close of the final scene. But, the troupe pulled it off, and the combination of superb artistic and technical directing, top-notch acting and an overall spirit of pertinaciousness scores the play convincingly high in the beholder’s eyes.

 

In these two books, Yoruba Art And Language: Seeking The African In African Art written by Rowland Abiodun, formerly, Professor of Art at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and currently Professor of Art and Black Studies at Amherst College and Art And Risk In Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Power, And Identity, C. by Suzanne P. Blier, Professor of Fine Arts and African and African-American Studies at Harvard University in the United States have given the world of Art and art scholarship in relation to Yoruba art two tomes of well-researched books. Surprisingly, these two books of deep reflection and many years of research by both authors have not been reviewed together in Nigeria: the postcolonial nation that houses Ife, whose artistic heritage has been examined withrigour in both books. It is the hope of this writer that this review will attract more jointreviews of the two works on a visual heritage that has become of immense interest to the rest of the world of art.

Abiodun in his nine-chapter book and Blier in her nine-chapter one (apart from each book’s introduction on the concepts that drive analyses and conclusions of each author) support their interpretations with numerous illustrations from a wide range of artistic works. For example, Abiodun has 135 illustrations, collected primarily from Ile-Ife and other parts of Yorubaland while Blier has 131 illustrations collected primarily from the ancient city-state of Ife and related communities. Each author uses his/her illustrations to support the interpretations derivable from the methodology employed to examine the data provided. What distinguishes one work from the other is largelyhermeneutic tradition employed by each author.

The methodology of each author renews aspects of what W. J. T. Mitchell once recognised in The Language of Images, as “the language about images, the words we use to talk about pictures, sculptures, designs, and abstract spatial patterns in the world … and “images regarded as a language” or the semantic, syntactic, communicative power of images to encode messages, tell stories, express ideas and emotions, raise questions, and speak to us.”

Abiodun does more of the first while Blier does more of the second form of language. Each author states with conviction the power of his/her preferred method of reading many visual objects that the two books have in common.

For example, Abiodun states boldly: “The urgent task before us is to ensure the survival and essential role of African artistic and aesthetic concepts in the study of art in Africa.”In his effort to apply a Yoruba perspective to the interpretation of African art, Abiodun draws attention to the interconnection of visual and verbal arts of the Yoruba. He does this by deploying cross-genre aesthetic concepts, such as iwa, ewa, oju-inu, oju-ona, iluti, asa, and newly created vocabularies such as Ife-naturalism, Ako-graphic, Ase-graphic Asa, and Epe-graphic as lenses for reading Yoruba visual culture and images. In short, Abiodun establishes a Siamese connection between Yoruba verbal and visual art forms, citing Oriki as the proto-form for both mimetic and stylized traditions of Yoruba verbal and visual arts. Oriki is used consistently in Abiodun’s book as a verbal or visual communicator’s representation and interpretation of any aspect of life in the Yoruba world in terms of reflection or refraction.

Blier, on the other hand, emphasises that her goal “throughout this research was not only to gain a deeper understanding of the artworks in question but also to try to reposition these works within the specific geographic and temporal settings in which they were made, found, and used.”  In what Blier calls ‘thinking anew about ancient Ife art,’ she pays special attention to physical attributes and symbolic properties of the works under studythrough a close reading of objects, their locations, ongoing ritual contexts and oral traditions, to unearth the theme of risk, power, and identity.Apart from the use of a few Yoruba proverbs and the reference to Aroko as a symbolic form of communication that is capable of both horizontal and subliminal meanings, she does not dwell on Yoruba oral traditions as much as Abiodun while Abiodun also does not give as much attention as Blier to speculations about how ancient Ife art tells the story of actual events in the history of the ancient city-state.

Each author’s methodology illuminates the field of Yoruba visual art. For instance, by rooting his interpretation in Yoruba language, worldview, and thought system, Abiodun brings insight to the influence of Yoruba metaphysics and values on creation of Yoruba visual art in all its manifestations: alloy, wood, beads, terracotta, stone, etc. Similarly, Abiodun’s privileging of orikias the driving force behind Yoruba verbal and visual art further illuminates the form, style, and significance of specific art objects as well as the field of Yoruba art in general. For instance, Abiodun’s notion of the centrality of orikito creative arts or even the creative industry in ancient Ife and contemporary Yoruba culturecuts across all forms of Yoruba semiotic system: verbal, spatial, and temporal.He further shows thatorikitradition of portrayal or memorialisation of a subject allows for fidelity to the object, as well as for under-representation and over-representation of the object. This explains why ako can be as close to the subject being portrayed as is humanly possible why the representation of the human head can be outlandish as it is in conical heads or conical headgears ranging from the Are crown in Ife, Ondo,Owo, Ijebu, Ila, and many other Yoruba cities to contemporary tall hats, such as is seen today on the head of the current governor of Ogun State in the Yoruba region of Nigeria. The desire of the artist to illustrate the concept and power of Ori-inu (the inner head) may lead, according to Abiodun, to creation of oversize heads while an artist’s effort to reproduce in the fashion of akomay stimulate naturalist representation.

Blier’s book raises many important questions that should interest not only art scholars but also students and admirers of Yoruba art and culture. Blier’s reading of ancient Ife art and ritual shows a magisterial knowledge of Western hermeneutics. While Abiodun relies on Yoruba metaphysics, spirituality, and language to illuminate Yoruba visual culture, Blier appliesWestern interpretive techniques ranging from psychoanalytic and semiotic criticism to the rich texts at her disposal. She illustrates the theme of risk to the artist and the community in many works that include full-size memorialisation of historical figures and design of crowns and other headgears. She also shows how specific sculptures repeat stories also simulated in rituals,with the aim of imaging the ancient city-state’s history of conflicts, already acknowledged in its myths of origin and legends of growth.

The focus of Blier’s book is on works she categorizes under Florescence and Post-Florescence eras. She ties the Florescence era to Obalufon II, an Ife king noted in Yoruba tradition as a major art patron and who Blier describes as the king and art patron that encouraged the marriage of old and new Ife, the period before and after the ‘emergence’ of Oduduwa. Drawing connections between Ife rituals such as Oramfe and Olojo in particular, Blier identifies the preoccupation of ancient Ife sculptures with the theme of conflict, change of political order, and reconciliation of both losers and winners of the struggles for power over the kingdom. By relating the works of other cultures: Ugbo-Ukwu, Tada, Benin, and Igala, for example, Blier suggests that ancient Ife was undoubtedly a cosmopolitan center for a large section of precolonial West Africa. Similarities in artistic motifs and style, she affirms, must have affected the creative industry in a city-state that was in its own time a melting pot for several nationalities and their cultures. The suggestion that the art of ancient Ife was enriched by contact with neighboring cultures should not surprise observers of influence of other cultures on the Lagos of today.

Without doubt, readers will find these two books insightful for different reasons. Both of the books cover a wide range of visual objects, ranging from memorialization of monarchs to depiction of animals. In an ancient society that was characterized by animism, it is not surprising that totem of power, such as leopard, elephant, horse; totem of peace such aseja-aro (a sub-specie of cat-fish) and snail; as well as totem of alterability or change such asagemoor oga(chameleon) featured prominently in the samples examined by both Blier and Abiodun. Similarly, the Yoruba habit of elaborate dressing that includes layers of clothing and adornment of dress with elaborate embroidery acknowledged byAbiodun andBlier in ancient Ife art is also a major part of Yoruba fashion today.

On the surface, especially with reference to the introduction to both books, readers are likely to find the messages of the two books to be counter-signs, but the body of each of the two books makes the authors’ analyses act more like co-signs than counter-signs. Both books have substantial significance to the study of Yoruba culture, especially its aesthetics and iconography. Abiodun in his book combines old and new Yorubaaesthetic concepts and vocabularies to make Yoruba visual art—naturalist, stylized, and idealized—intelligible to both specialists and people with interest in understanding the relationship between Yoruba thought system and artistic production.  He provides new analytical techniques that can provide models for art and culture scholars not only in the Yoruba world but also in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as forthose in other parts of the world who need knowledge of indigenous perspectives to enrich their understanding of African visual culture.Abiodun popularizes an area of study of African cultural production that has been kept on the back burner for long; development of emic or indigenous perspectives and concepts that explain nuances (and sometimes the so-called mystery) of visual art in Africa produced by artists who practiced largely in the era before their contact with Westernepistemology and hermeneutics.Abiodun does effectively with Yoruba art what Western art scholars do with theirs: art interpretation in relation to Western worldview: philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, values, and language. His work is in good stead to motivate others working in the field of African art and criticism.

Blier in her own book provides additional methods of reading ancient Ife art in a way that can be intelligible to the Anglophone world, which also includes Africans in diaspora and professional art critics on the African continent.She provides insights on the desire of ancient Ife artists to tell stories about the evolution of the kingdom by applying a multidisciplinary analysis to numerous samples of Ife visual art. While recognizing the politics of ancient Ife art, Blier provides insight on the connection between Ife art and desire of its ancient leaders to overcome the division that periodic struggles for power created or could create. She also uses her methodology to suggest a clue to issues that may puzzle the Yoruba world; the role of multiculturalism in ancient Ife and its influence on the flowering of sculpture in the ancient kingdom.

Each of these two books deserves whatever investment goes into its purchase. The books complement each other in many ways and will be of immense benefit to art and culture scholars who want to deepen their knowledge of an ancient artistic tradition that continues to exciteart connoisseurs worldwide. Students of Yoruba art should read Abiodun’s book before reading Blier’s, as doing so will enhance appreciation of Blier’s book. In addition, it will be a profitable investment in knowledge and culture, if Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, in collaboration with other knowledge centers,guardians of Yoruba culture such as: Ooni, Alaafin, Awujale, Olowo,Osemawe, Orangun, Ewi,

etc., and rich collectors of Yoruba art such as OmoobaShyllon,can organize an international colloquium at Ife, to discuss the two books that seek to change for different reasons the study of Yoruba art.

 

N.B.  Yoruba Art And Language: Seeking The African In African Art by Rowland Abiodun published by Cambridge in 2014 has 386 pages.

Art And Risk In Ancient Yoruba: Ife History, Power, And Identity, C. 1300. Suzanne Preston Blier also published by Cambridge in 2015 has 574 pages.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Monday, the duo of leading contemporary sculptor Raqib Bashorun and fast-rising painter Chika Idu treated Lagos art collectors and enthusiasts to an exciting collection of artworks at the Wheatbaker in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The joint exhibition titled: Evolving Currents, which was curated by Sandra Mbanefo Obiago and Oliver Enwonwu, is featuring various media of sculpture, installation, oil and acrylic on canvas, and water-colour on paper.

  It is sponsored by the Wheatbaker and Veuve Clicquot and runs until June 16. .

The joint show is a timely synergy between two unique artists (of different generations) whose works touch on socio-economic and political issues such as human capacity development, women and children’s rights and good governance using different materials.

Evolving Currents allows viewers to experience a world of bold symbols and detailed forms through heavy wood and metal sculptures by Bashorun and sensitively textured and layered paintings by Idu.

Bashorun, a former art lecturer at the School of Art, Design and Printing, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos is showing 14 works while Idu has 26. Through the works, Bashorun explores new directions and possibilities with the incorporation of recycled and found materials from his environment. These are mostly metals in the form of aerosol and soda cans as well as auto parts and cutlery.

Among his works on display are Eastern dragon, Reconstruction, Whistle blower, Ebb and Flow, Accumullated virtue, Masked masquerade and Arrival.

Eastern Dragon is a metal piece that symbolizes the increasing popularity of China, its population size and economy among the comity of nations. But the main frame of the piece is a textured part that serves as effect. Bashorun’s commentary on the on-going controversy about global secret deals by some world leaders can be found in Whistle blower, a metal work made from different objects to depict whistle blowing ability in everyone across the globe, especially with the aid of information technology.

Instructively, Bashorun’s philosophy is hinged on the power of numbers, which he expresses in his work through detail and repetition. He uses nails, pegs, can tops and other re-valued materials to reflect on Africa’s need to tap into its most important resource, its people, and focus on a knowledge-based economy.

Bashorun, who is very passionate about art said Nigeria can use art to jump start any economic goal, which most of his works are aiming at achieving.

“We have to look at the various opportunities created by arts and tap into it to advance the nation’s economy and technology. Nigeria must use its population size to propel its economic growth till we hit the technological mark.

“I am not working for art sake. And the use of local materials is to draw people to the art before thinking of its value and functionality,” he said.

To him the joint show is a healthy development for the creative industry because ‘we need such synergy in spite of the pedigree of each artist.’  “I am particularly happy about the exhibition because we have been planning how to take the artworks to the public spaces. And the hotel provides alternative venue for art show especially for the caliber of guests to the hotel, which is a busy hub for guests,” Bashorun added.

For Idu, he has a strongly figurative and personal style that is easily recognizable, one that traces his trajectory and stylistic development. His technique involves the exhaustive priming of his canvas. His broad oeuvre embraces themes such as traditional Nigerian ceremonies, musicians and landscapes. Several of his paintings are imbued with narrative content. They depict children engaging in various forms of activity—on the way to school, playing, reading or swimming.

“These paintings are meant to fill my heart with joy thus replacing those sad feelings. I simply paint them in friendly water that is not actually a friendly one,” he said.  Among his paintings displayed are The other life, Play time, Fun day Move, Still, Mood and State of mind.

In every of his work, there is a strong message and are meant to draw attention to the plights of children in coastal communities. But, his Black series is dedicated to the cause of women who he feels are being abused by men. He also uses the series to portray the beauty of the African women.

Do you know that patients suffering from chronic illnesses and their families can be healed by art therapy? For the ‘most seriously ill’, art therapy is good. Doctors and artists say such healings are more effective, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.  

Imagine the joy and relief an artist gets when he completes an art work? Imagine also the satisfaction he gets while working. As the work progresses, the artist gets fulfilment. This is also the way most patients feel when exposed to art therapy, such as visual, drama and music.

I Remember Better When I Paint is an international film, which documents the positive impact of art and other creative activities on people with Alzheimer’s disease. The film demonstrates how expressive therapies bypass limitations. Also, A Time to Dance: The Life, Work of Norma Canner (1998), a 75-minute documentary and biography by Directors Ian Browne, Webb Wilcoxen is another classic example of positive impact of art on mental health challenges.

Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria Director/CEO Dr Anette Akinsete described art therapy as a window to the world outside the hospital, and a  way to help a patient’s voice to be heard by his or her family and the medical team. She said the body and mind work together during healing.

In her view, most patients, especially children, find it difficult to verbalise how they feel and as a result, they are encouraged to express their feelings through drawings, paintings, sketches and doodles.

Akinsete said children turn to their art materials to draw and paint a picture of how they are feeling, adding that their involvement in creative art expression helps them cope with stress and anxiety.

“Having a serious illness can be a catastrophic blow to a young patient and his family. Art therapy functions in a very unique way for chronically ill children. It helps them cope with the mental and emotional stress that often accompanies their battle with illness. Art allows the children to forget about the pain of their illness – even if just for a while – and relax. Art gives them a sense of control and mastery.

“Art therapy can be liberating to the young patient and their families as it provides them an opportunity to make a decision and create a sense of control. This is especially true since most of them feel like they have no control over what the illness does to them. In art therapy, they are free to choose what to draw or paint, what colours to choose and even decide whether they want to keep or throw the final product at the end of the activity,” she added.

According to Akinsete, art therapy is for both young and old patients. With persistence and dedication, the medical art therapist can engage adolescents in meaningful creative work.

Demonstrating interest, support and respect for the adolescent’s autonomy, she said, forms the foundation of meaningful engagement.

She noted that maintaining client-centered focus is critical for adolescents and that ‘in order for therapy to be meaningful the goals must belong to the patient. In medicine, the therapist most often initiates the therapeutic process.’

Art therapists have developed many methods of evaluating personality through art aimed at enlightening symptoms of mental illness. Akinsete said in medicine, the goal is usually to uncover strengths, coping mechanisms, and qualities of resilience.

“Spontaneous pictures too, can help the art therapist understand the patient’s strengths, skills and understanding, especially when children discuss the meaning of their artwork with the therapist,” she noted.

In his paper, Healing with art and colour therapy, a Senior Lecturer at the School of Art and Industrial Design, Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Mr. Kent Onah, said apart from using art therapy in treating emotional trauma and grief, it is also a supplement to pain and symptom management as well as to address psychological distress and encourage self-growth and actualisation, among others.

He said when a child is creating art, he is building various skills-both motor and cognitive and the various sensory experiences involved in art production are positive and pleasurable sensations. He stated that the creative process provides opportunities for expressing ideas and emotions, which can sometimes be difficult for the child with disabilities or health challenges.

According to Onah, the methods of applying art therapy for healing are varied and dependent on not only the therapist’s preference but, most importantly, on the clients level of receptivity, likeness, appreciation and belief.

“It is most important that the therapist properly evaluates the individual who is being treated. We are each unique in our own way. Therefore, our needs are different and our responses vary accordingly to our willingness. So, one must learn to evaluate each problem and then apply the tools that will help in that particular situation. With some people, pure visualisation of a colour, performing a particular creative activity, wearing or working with a particular colour may be sufficient and perhaps may even give forth a greater energy than when the client is using a physical tool.

“On the other hand, some people may not realise the power of visualisation and it is very important to see the physical application of the therapeutic techniques. Most of the techniques can be traced to ancient healing practices of Africans and Asians,” he said.

He noted that what occurs during an art therapy session depends mainly on the client because visualising his or her feelings will help him or her to get beyond masking them through language.

Continuing, he said: “Imagine describing a dream. It is never quite possible to communicate effectively the images we perceive in our subconscious. Art therapy allows the client or patient to relay these images in a new and powerful way. During the therapy, a client artistic ability is irrelevant. While the session is not just a relaxing diversionary activity, it is also not an art class. “Most sessions are structured to help get the client started on a project, and oriented toward helping him or her reach specific goals. The idea is for the patient to be able to work at his or her own pace as the therapist helps them to explore the work’s significance. The therapist is not an interpreter of the clients’ art but rather a facilitator to his or her inner discovery…

“The act of creating helps the client to heal from emotional/internal wounds and allows the therapist to perceive implications from the process. As the therapist learns about the individual, he or she is able to help the client further in exploring the works significance. The work produced can be viewed as a tangible record of progress made toward meeting treatment goals, as well as an indication of where further therapeutic interventions should take place. The art work may serve as a springboard for increased verbal communication and may also be a source of pride for the client who made it.”

Onah  explained that art therapy brings creativity into places like hospitals and nursing homes as well as places that could use other forms of healing rather than medical or psychiatric.

He said psychologists believe that every sickness has something to do with people’s psyche as the mind accumulates a lot of inhibitions, which act as toxins and blockades that breaks or destroys the immune system. What art therapy does, he said, is to remove these inhibitions in the patient.

On the essence of choice colours, Onah said the patients should visualise, eat and breathe such colours in, produce a painting using the particular colour that is necessary for healing that illness.

“The essence is that these colours will in turn stimulate that part of the body to experience the desired healing effect … Art therapy engages the whole being. The healing one get is not like drugs. It is an experience beyond drugs, its curative healing is holistic-mind and body,” he added.

He said each colour has its own unique effect, which can be used for healing and restoring body’s natural balance and harmony each colour has its own unique effect which can be used for healing and restoring body’s natural balance and harmony.

“Some colours can energise the body while others stimulate the mind; some are effective in raising spiritual consciousness while others develop intuitive powers, it can enhance confidence levels and self-worth, or influence the feeling of love and hate. It can directly affect energy levels in people exhausted by chronic illness. All colours are useful and are used in colour therapy and art therapy, depending on the media chosen by the therapist and the response of the client,” he noted.

Characteristics of colours

 

Red

Red is called the energiser because it represents our life energy –the blood. This colour stimulates the red blood cells. It can revitalise the body.

 

Orange

Wisdom is one of the main characteristics of this colour. Orange is warm and invigorating. On the mental and emotional levels, orange can often lift people out of depression, and can bring self-confidence and courage to those with low self-esteem. It is an outgoing colour and helps give motivation when needed. This colour can be considered a freeing agent, as it can aid in loosening mental and emotional blocks, and can relieve repressed anxieties and fears. orange can help, too, in giving stability to the character. The effect of orange upon the mentality is to aid the assimilation of new ideas and to induce mental enlightenment with a sense of freedom from limitations.

 

Yellow

There are physical energies within the yellow, but perhaps more importantly, there are vibrational frequencies within this colour that strongly affect the mind and the emotions. Yellow should bring a happy, sunshine outlook on life. At the same time-but perhaps under different conditions- this same colour will stimulate the brain cells and will give the ability to study, analyse and be the thinker. Whenever some very intense mental work is to be undertaken, wearing something yellow or being surrounded by this colour can be very beneficial, because it actually stimulates the brain cells.

Yellow has a threefold function:

It can stimulate the nervous system

It deals with the emotions

It activates the mental faculties.