The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tutu

  • Tutu dominates forum’s celebration

    A 1974 Ben Enwonwu’’s painting, Tutu, a version of the controversial painting that sold for one million pounds (above estimated sale of less than 400,000 pounds) at Bonhams’ auction last month in London, was the toast of a gathering of artists and critics in Lagos.

    The 44-year-old painting was described as an all-time record sale that has added a fresh window of value to modern Nigerian art.

    It thus became a record sale, not just for Enwonwu but a West African auction record. Tutu is a painting by the artist of Princess Tutu Ademiluyi in 1973, when he was a professor of Fine Arts at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State.

    Former Provost, Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, Dr. Kunle Filani, said the record sale of Enwonwu’s Tutu had opened a fresh window of value for modern Nigerian art, noting that art scholars and critics must theorise, talk and postulate about the painting.

    According to him, the record sale has also added value and recognition to Nigerian arts, artists and modern African arts.

    He spoke at an evening of celebration, discussions and talks on arts and artists organised by Artists Social Forum at The Resource Place, Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja Lagos penultimate Sunday.

    It was also an evening to celebrate artists, such as Kolade Oshinowo, Bunmi Davies, Kelani Abass, Josy Ajiboye and Olu Amoda whose birth months are between February and March.

    Elder artist Chief Timothy Fasuyi said the real essence of the forum was to share ideas on art and artists, with the aim of promoting, projecting both old and young artists as well as to serve as a single voice in the creative sector. “It is to educate the public on the various aspects of art for better appreciation. Also, it provides a platform for the celebration of artists while alive,” he said, adding that issue of opening a secretariat for the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) should be considered.

    Publisher Agufon magazine Bunmi Davies, who chaired the evening, said she was highly honoured as a celebrator and chair person of the evening, adding that artists must put in enough to get enough returns that will be benficial to all. She said Oshinowo’s contributions to art were done not because he wanted to be rewarded by his old students.

    “However, his 70th birthday celebration was a testimony to how he touched his old students who celebrated him since he turned 70 early last month.

    To Oshinowo, the one-month celebration of his 70th birthday far exceeded his expectations, saying that whatever he might have done might not have been excellent but he had done his best. “I thank everyone who feels warmly of what I have done,” he added.

    On behalf of his father, Mrs. Yemisi Osundina praised the organisers of the evening for the honour done his father Ajiboye.

    The high point of the evening was paper presentation on Five things you can sell in art by Juliet Ezenwa Maja-Pearce. She identified the things as credibility, product, time, rights over your products and image. She said credibility involves credible relationship, character, competence, fame, referrals among others which every artist must have in order to succeed.

    She urged artists to be original and should not copy but can borrow ideas. “Be willing to sell your works. Be discipline and keep your works for maturity. Do not create emotional bond between you and your work, embrace experimentation because of competition and use quality materials,” she added.

    Oshinowo disagreed with issue of emotions saying: “I am very emotional to my works. For me, until you have done paintings that you do not want to sell, you have not started.”

     

     

    Present at the evening were Dr. Simon Ikpakronyi, Dr. Kunle Adeeyemi, Dr. Biodun Kafaru, Adeleye Makanju, Kelani Abass, Dr. Stella Awoh, and Wale Fasuyi.

     

     

  • Tutu ‘sad’ his daughter had to step down as Anglican priest

    The daughter of anti-apartheid figure Archbishop Desmond Tutu has had to give up being an Anglican priest after she married a woman.

    In an email to the AFP news agency Mpho Tutu-van Furth said that as the church does not recognise gay marriage she was told her license would be revoked, so she decided to return it.

    She wrote to AFP that her father was “sad but not surprised” at the news.

    Archbishop Tutu has supported same-sex marriage and it was legalised in South Africa in 2006.

  • Desmond Tutu: a colossus is gone

    Desmond Tutu: a colossus is gone

    Nelson Mandela is mourned by South Africans, Africans and the international community today as the leader of our generation who stood head and shoulders above his contemporaries — a colossus of unimpeachable moral character and integrity, the world’s most admired and revered public figure.

    Not since Kenyatta, Nkrumah, Nyerere and Senghor has Africa seen his like. Looking for comparisons beyond Africa, he will go down in history as South Africa’s George Washington, a person who within a five-year presidency became the principal icon of both liberation and reconciliation, loved by those of all political persuasions as the founder of modern, democratic South Africa.

    He was of course not always regarded as such. When he was born in 1918 in the rural village of Mvezo, he was named Rolihlahla, or “troublemaker.” (Nelson was the name given to him by a teacher when he started school.) After running away to Johannesburg to escape an arranged marriage, he lived up to his name. Introduced to politics by his mentor, Walter Sisulu, he joined a group of young militants who challenged the cautious elders of the African National Congress, founded by black leaders in 1912 to oppose the racist policies of the newly-formed union of white-ruled British colonies and Afrikaner republics.

    After the Afrikaner Nationalists came to power in 1948, intent on entrenching and expanding the dispossession of blacks, confrontation became inevitable. As the new government relentlessly implemented one racist, repressive law after another, the ANC intensified its resistance until its ban in 1960, when it decided that, having exhausted all peaceful means of achieving democracy, it had no option but to resort to the use of force.

    Madiba, the clan name by which South Africans refer to Nelson Mandela, went underground, then left the country to look for support for the struggle. He received it in many parts of Africa — undergoing military training in Ethiopia — but he failed to get meaningful support in the West.

    Upon his return to South Africa, he was arrested by the police and first imprisoned for inciting strikes and leaving the country illegally. Two years later he was brought from prison to face charges, along with other leaders, of preparing for guerrilla warfare. At the end of the trial, they were all sentenced to life imprisonment.

    In 1964, Madiba was sent to Robben Island prison off the coast of Cape Town as a militant guerilla leader, the commander-in-chief of the military wing of the ANC, Umkhonto weSizwe, committed to overthrowing apartheid by force. When he emerged from prison in 1990, his eyes damaged by the blindingly-bright limestone quarries in which prisoners had been forced to crush rock, and having contracted tuberculosis as a result of prison conditions, he might have been expected to come out hell-bent on revenge and retribution. White South Africans certainly feared so. On the other side of the political spectrum, some of his supporters feared that after campaigners had lionised his role in the struggle, he might turn out to have feet of clay and be unable to live up to his reputation.

    None of this would turn out to be so. Suffering can embitter its victims, but equally it can ennoble the sufferer. In Madiba’s case, the 27 years in jail was not wasted. Firstly it gave him an authority and a credibility difficult to attain in other ways. No one could challenge his credentials. He had proved his commitment, his selflessness through what he had undergone. Secondly, the crucible of excruciating suffering which he had endured purged the dross, the anger, the temptation to any desire for revenge, honing his spirit and transforming him into an icon of magnanimity. He used his enormous moral stature to good effect in persuading his party and many in the black community, especially young people, that accommodation and compromise were the way to achieve our goal of democracy and justice for all.

    Cliton mourns

    FORMER United States President Bill Clinton said last night of the late Nelson Mandela:

    “Nelson Mandela taught us so much about so many things. Perhaps the greatest lesson, especially for young people, is that, while bad things do happen to good people, we still have the freedom and responsibility to decide how to respond to injustice, cruelty and violence and how they will affect our spirits, hearts and minds.

    Mandela’s enduring legacy is that, under a crushing burden of oppression he saw through differences, discrimination and destruction to embrace our common humanity.

  • Archbishop Tutu and a ‘Homophobic God’

    SIR: I am writing to draw the attention of the general public particularly our religious leaders to the recent bold and thoughtful pronouncement of the retired archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Prize Laureate, Desmond Tutu. Speaking at an event organized by the UN to promote gay rights in South Africa, Tutu said categorically that he would never worship a ‘homophobic God’ and that he would prefer going to hell to going to a homophobic heaven. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” Tutu said. He compared his campaign against homophobia to that against apartheid in South Africa.

    Tutu’s statement is coming at a time of rising waves of homophobic attacks, persecution and killing in different parts of Africa. An anti-gay legislation is awaiting the signature of the President in Nigeria. Gay activists have been murdered in Uganda and Cameroun. Homosexual act is a crime in many African countries, and many gay people are languishing in jails across the region. The moves to tighten the laws against homosexuality have the strong backing of Christian and Muslim leaders.

    I hope some Christian and Muslim leaders in Africa would emulate Archbishop Tutu and begin to openly denounce and dissociate themselves from the ‘popular’ reverence and worship of a homophobic ‘God’ in the region

    • Leo Igwe

    Dept of Religious Studies

    University of Bayreuth, Germany

     

  • Tutu joins prayers as Mandela battles for life

    Tutu joins prayers as Mandela battles for life

    Ex-wife Winnie visits hospital

    Anti-apartheid campaigner Dr. Desmond Tutu yesterday joined prayers for ailing former South African President Nelson Mandela who is receiving intensive care at a Pretoria hospital. President Jacob Zuma’s office said Mandela’s condition remained unchanged after three nights in the hospital.

    Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said: “Today, the doctors are saying his condition is unchanged.

    “He is under expert attention and doctors are doing everything to keep him comfortable.”

    Maharaj described a report in The Star suggesting the Mandela family had barred the ANC and government officials from visiting Madiba as unfortunate.

    “There is no substance to that. It’s very unfortunate that one particular newspaper chose to run with that as a headline. I’ve read that report and it has no single source it attributes to, except three unnamed sources.

    “There are restrictions which arise from the fact that Madiba is under intensive care. Those are medical restrictions to control movement of people (to exclude the) possibility of visitors bringing infection into the environment,” said Maharaj.

    The newspaper reported that the Mandela family had taken charge of the 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner’s hospital stay, banning everyone, including government leaders and senior party officials, from visiting him.

    The ANC said it was unaware of this.

    Maharaj said President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to visit Mandela in hospital, but did not say when.

    “His (Zuma’s) focus now is to allow the medical team every opportunity to concentrate on their job. To allow the closest relatives to go there and be close to him. President Zuma will visit at the appropriate time. We just want Madiba to get better.”

    ANC MP and Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has been at the hospital.

    A foundation led by retired archbishop Tutu described the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero as an “extraordinary gift” to South Africa.

    A statement issued for the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation described Mandela as “the beloved father of our nation” and offered prayers for a man seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation because of his peacemaking role when white racist rule ended in South Africa.

    Mandela “once again endures the ravages of time in hospital,” said the Cape Town-based foundation, which was founded by Tutu and his wife Leah to promote peace. “We offer our thanks to God for the extraordinary gift of Mr. Mandela, and wish his family strength.”

    Tutu, 81, was also a vigorous campaigner against apartheid, which ended when all-race elections were held in 1994 and Mandela became president. Like Mandela, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of his compatriots. Mandela shared his prize with F.W. de Klerk, the last president of the apartheid era.

    “We send our blessings to the doctors and nurses responsible for his care,” Tutu’s foundation said.

    Maharaj said the 48 hours between Saturday and Monday, when there was no update on Mandela’s health, was caused by the lack of progress on the elder statesman’s health.

    “You would not want a repetition of the same thing over and over. I know you want him to get better, but we can’t give you good news if it’s false. We can’t give you bad news when it’s not true.

    Local and international journalists spent the day outside the two entrances to the Pretoria hospital where Mandela was believed to be.

    Security guards had been posted at the entrances.

    More than 10 broadcast vans were there.

    Some journalists had erected small tents and others had generators. Passers-by stopped to ask about Mandela.