In the colonial era, while Africans were predominantly emotionally and spiritually attached to the traditional sculptures crafted by indigenous artists within a cultural ethnic
contemporary art
Post-modernists reject the idea that art can provide meaning. If life is meaningless, they say, fine – let’s not pretend that art can do better. Let’s just accept that it’s nonsense, like everything else, and get on with it. This new Post-Modernist philosophy thus triggered a whole new set of priorities, which were greatly facilitated by the coincident arrival of new technologies, like television, video, and
Art by Yinka Shonibare
I was thinking: Okay, so where do I stand? I live in England. I’m from Nigeria. Nigeria was colonised by the British. The Victorian era was the height of colonialism in Africa. How do I relate to the repressive Victorian regime?
So Victoriana for me actually means conquest and imperialism. And so, in a sense, it is actually my fear. So what I then decided to do was to actually confront my fear and face my fear. And the way to confront my fear is to actually parody that fear. A lot of the works came out of my desire to face my fear and to turn it into parody.
Exhibition of Nigerian Artists, Germany 2007
Courage could create opportunities. In 2005, a Nigerian artist based in Germany, decided to organize a workshop in Nigeria and exhibit his works. The workshop was not only successful but paved way for a competition sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Lagos. Two students at the Yaba College of Technology won the 1st and 2nd prizes of the competition, which offered them the
