CORA pays tribute to Nigeria’s artistic greats

*Recalls legendary Hollywood actor, Mazi Ukonu

By Godwin Okondo

DAY 2 of Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF 2021) will focus on visual arts as it kicks off bybpayibg attention to the creatives works and expressions of some masters who have joined the ancestral pantheon of Nigeria artistic greats that culminates with Arthouse Forum. It has as theme “Homage to the Recent Arthouse Ancestors” and features great artists like Ola Oloidi, Mike Omoighe and Yusuf Grillo, who joined the ancestor this year to deplete the artist family. The panelists for the session are Oliver Enwonwu, Dr. Ademola Azeez, and Dr. Akin Onipede. The session begins at 2pm.

At 4pm after the forum comes the “State of the Collector’s Vault,” which looks at the art collections of Rasheed Gbadamosi, Sammy Olagbaju, Frank Okonta and Abdulaziz Udeh. The session will be moderated by Mufu Onifade, with panelists that include Dr. Sola Ogunfuwa, Olu Ajayi, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi, Prof. Jerry Buhari and Moses Ohiomokhare, with Chinwe Uwatse as chair and moderator of the session. The session also features as special guest of honour, the renowned collector and founder of OmoOba Yemisi Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF), Prince Yemisi Shyllon, the Grand Donor and chairman of Council of the Yemisi Shyllon Museum, Pan Atlantique university.

Thereafter, a performance of the play ‘Atupa’, written by Yussuf Durodola, will be performed at 3pm. ‘Atupa’ is an inspirational play that uplifts humanity and urges it to keep fighting against immorality and wickedness.

This will be followed by an art exhibition curated by Oludamola Adebowale for ASIRI Magazine that will begin at 5pm. The programme is an interrogation of a set of manuscripts documenting a private conversation between Wole Soyinka and Ulli Beier on ‘Yoruba religion titled ‘Orisha Liberates the Mind: The Crisis of Yoruba Culture’. This will be followed by the unveiling of an illustrated art book specially dedicated to the memory of Ulli Beier and the celebration of Soyinka’s 87th birthday. The project is supported by the University of Zululand and the University of Limpopo in South Africa). It will be chaired by the artist and CORA board member, Ndidi Dike.

The day’s events will be brought to a close with the performance of ‘Mokoo Moro’ (Nomadic performance) by Jelili Atiku at 6pm, after which he will be joined by The Netherlands’ filmmaker, Juul Van der Laan, to discuss the performance.

This will be followed by a film screening at 8pm that pays tribute to a pioneer artiste titled “Allelu? Alleluiah!: The Legend of Mazi Ukonu,” a documentary on the life of Mazi Anyogu Ukonu, one of Africa’s early Hollywood stars. The programme also gives opportunity for question and answer session with the director and producer.