The quiet echoes of stone were brought to life in a solo art exhibition with the theme: The Stone Speaks, held at The National Museum, Onikan, Lagos. The exhibition, which was opened to the public recently, showcased the latest works of acclaimed stone sculptor, Oladapo Afolayan, who explores the deep, often overlooked, dialogues between nature and humanity through the medium of stone.
The exhibition featured a diverse collection of sculptures, installations, and mixed-media pieces, each meticulously crafted to reflect the theme.
Afolayan has long been known for his ability to transform raw, natural stones into profound works of art, and this latest endeavor continues that tradition with a focus on stone as a symbol of endurance, memory, and silence.
Afolayan, explaining the inspiration behind the exhibition, said “Stone is a natural, consolidated mineral matter which occupies the earth crust. It varies from soft Steatite or Soapstone to very hard intractable materials such as Diamond or Granite varieties and requires special skills, tools and of course stamina. It takes a man who understands the language of Stone to be able to unravel intrinsic virtues that are hidden in each stone boulder.”
According to him, his works in this exhibition are results obtained through tripartite dialogues with the ‘Man Within’, the ‘Hands’ and the ‘Stone Boulder’ to arrive at these stone sculptures.
“The procedure is to ask the “Man Within:
“What do you want to create in this boulder, how do you want to achieve it, and what tools and chisels do you want to use?”, he said.
He stated that the exhibition, featuring 12 garden stone sculptural pieces, are mostly in Calcite Marble.
“The concepts went through wide range of time and years of contemplation. Some took months for the concepts to emerge, while others resulted from spontaneous exploration of forms,” he added.
One of the standout pieces in the exhibition is “Dialogue” a large-scale sculpture made from weathered stone fragments.
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The work invites viewers to consider the ancient past and the marks left by both natural elements and human hands.
Another notable piece, “Tribute to Chibok girls” that was mainly inspired by the unfortunate event of the kidnapped Chibok girl, creating an immersive experience where visitors can almost hear the stones “speak.”
The exhibition offered art lovers and casual visitors alike a chance to experience the silent yet profound conversation between humanity and the earth.
Leading art collector Omoba Yemisi Shyllon praised the sculptor for his contemplative approach and the way he challenges the audience to connect with the natural world on a deeper level. He described stone carvings as difficult while lauding the strong will Afolayan has and hailed his finishing touches.
“Stone carving is a very difficult medium to work with. It’s more difficult than carving wood, more difficult than carving bronze, and so on . We should give kudos to him. And he’s the first stone carver that I met, sometime late 1990s, I’ve started buying his work at that time. He went on a trip to Italy, where he acquired additional skills. You know, before he left, he was using Nigerian kind of tools, but he came back more informed and more equipped. He’s now carving wonders.”, he said
Shyllon urged aspiring artists to be internationally exposed as it gives knowledge on how to expand with any competitor across the globe.
“And that is why it is good for artists to be internationally exposed. The more a human being travels, the more educated they become. If you stay within the cuckoo of your environment, you are not going to expand your know how as to those you are competing against internationally”, he said.
Shyllon, however lamented about the poor display of history at the Lagos Museum. He complained bitterly about the new management of the museum, stating that the labour of love and selflessness of some volunteers are wiped off.
He said that as part of the volunteers for the Lagos Museum, the list of past contributors, displayed in the museum for their selfless volunteering service and historical purposes, were wiped off.
He said ‘we volunteered to help the Lagos Museum. We volunteered along with Ford Foundation, we imploded a building that was in danger to the workers here.
And for some reasons, some people wrote our names for our selfless volunteering service. But one artist, I don’t know the name of the artist, has wiped off the names and produced an artwork under the management of the museum. I don’t think it goes well at all for people to contribute to the development of arts and culture in Nigeria.’
He expressed his disappointment upon noticing that their names were wiped off the wall murals, saying that history should not be wiped away and that people should know the value of what others contributed.
“And I use the word bitter for this journalist to note. I went to that back there, and I saw that you have wiped away my name. The labour of love, the selflessness has been wiped away. Our names were there. There is nothing to show for the three years pro bono service for this museum and we did a lot. This is very wrong. We did a lot. I contributed money for this museum.
‘‘I mean, that I arrived there and I’m disappointed. And the fact that history is just wiped away of, the selflessness. That’s the purpose of the business.
‘‘History is just wiped away and done by some group of artists. Who should know about the value of what some people contributed. The late Rasheed Gbadamosi, the late Frank Okonta, and I’m the only living person. And because I’m living, I have to complain. You cannot complain from the grave,” he said.
