From Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Adeyinka Fabayo is the curator at Genesis Arts Gallery, Osogbo, Osun State. He cuts his teeth in the arts industry from the grassroots after his secondary education when he met a bosom friend who introduced him to painting.
In this interview, he advocated for the development of the arts and culture industry through the promotion of the works of art. He stressed that if well developed by government the industry could serve as a veritable channel for economic diversification as well as employment opportunities.
What roles do you think the arts and culture industry can play to improve the economy and how can this be achieved?
In the contemporary times, especially now that the country is trying to come out of recession, the arts and culture industry is a huge means of economic diversification apart from agriculture if only the Federal Government would pay attention to its potentialities and prospects and develop it to the next level. There are many ways that government can do this.
For instance, government needs to revamp the textile industries to produce and promote local fabrics such as adire, aso-oke, Ankara and batik. So many textile companies, particularly Churchgate and Bhojssons in Lagos, Kaduna Textiles Ltd, Arewa Textiles Ltd, Kaduna, United Nigeria Textiles Ltd, Kaduna, and several others in Kano have gone moribund over the years. President Muhammadu Buhari promised to revamp them during his campaign, but he has not fulfilled the promise.
The resuscitation of the textile industry can boost employment opportunities and improve the economy as the local fabrics can serve as export products. The loots being recovered from corrupt government officials and private individuals could be channeled in this direction.
Annual expo for arts exposition where artists could showcase their works should be brought back. The National Gallery of Arts can anchor this. A lot of art works and designs are wasting away in galleries and museums because people do not have access to them due to the lack of publicity. Exhibition through annual expo can encourage students’ excursion to make them conversant with the culture and tradition of their people in order for them to cherish them.
Arts programmes and events could be organized where the woks of arts could be showcased to enable the world see the works, appreciate and purchase them. This can help boost the economy.
There is no gainsaying the fact that arts and culture industry is a veritable employment-generating avenue. Through it, a lot of youths have been gainfully employed. But many more could still be employed if only the Federal Government would pay more attention to the development of the industry.
There is a good number of youths, especially graduates of Fine Arts, that are well talented and very creative but idle away because they lack the wherewithal and motivation to do something with the works of arts. They need money to buy materials, open studios and do something for themselves through which they can become employers of labour.
African music seems to be losing ground and giving way to conventional music. Do you agree?
It is true that African music is losing ground, unlike the days of the legendary musicians like the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Chief Ebenezer Obey, the late Orlando Owo whose style of music focused on and portrayed African culture and tradition to promote them. Their music promoted Nigerian tourism industry a great deal because it attracted tourists, including foreign ones who have passion for our culture.
But the reverse is the case nowadays as African and Nigerian singers are mostly hip-hop musicians who promote foreign culture in their music. In most cases, the lyrics or messages of the music does not make much sense because they claim to sing for the youth who don’t even know nor understand the culture and traditions of their people. This is seriously killing music as an art.
The present generation of musicians should be encouraged to focus their music on the culture, traditions and customs of the land in order to sustain them. Our culture and tradition are on the brink of collapse. Nigerian musicians, particularly the emerging ones, should go to the roots of African and Nigerian history, culture and tradition and derive their music from the perspectives to promote the works of arts and our culture.
It is amazing that even when adults and people considered to be senior citizens or elder states men organize birth day parties, burials, naming ceremonies, traditional weddings, they go for hip-hop and afro music which do not portray our culture and tradition adequately. Patronage and passion for African music would boost the economy of the country’s arts industry.
Most rich and prominent Nigerians do not have passion for local fabrics. What is your message to them?
They are not helping our economy. They are rather promoting other countries’ economies. They need to be patriotic by patronizing local fabrics like aso-oke, adire, Ankara, batik and others and be proud of them. They need to be proud of their culture by using cultural wears. Those that live abroad should try as much as possible to buy local fabrics and wear them over there. It will promote their culture and boost the nation’s economy.
What is your assessment of Nigerians’ passion for the arts industry and patronage for the works of arts in Nigeria?
There are many prominent Nigerians that have passion for art works and designs, especially wood carving. In the past, there was so much interest and patronage for foreign doors and furniture. But currently, attention is shifting to local furniture from the works of arts and designs. People who cherish culture and tradition go for them to beautify their homes.
Furniture products such as tables, chairs, beds, room dividers, dining tables and chairs are designed to reflect African culture, especially the Yoruba culture. People who cherish culture go for them instead of foreign or glass products which are perishable, unlike wooden ones that are durable and have beautiful designs from the works of art.
Decorations at royal palaces and temples are creations from artworks. Even churches now go for carved doors and windows for their cathedrals and auditoriums. The sculptures at Odudua Palace in Ile-Ife is an art design.
There are couples that use local fabrics for their traditional weddings to promote their culture. We use guinea brocade, quality batik and aso-oke to design the wears for them.
Also, there are local hand made bags, foot wears and other fashion accessories designed for them instead of imported materials.
How can the country’s tourism industry be developed with the works of art?
Art works are good tourism materials for monumental and heritage projects that attract tourists to this country. When expatriates visit, they would like to see galleries and the arts works, know our style of life and tradition, our origin and how we started and are developing. For instance, Osogbo is a city of arts.
To develop the country’s tourism industry, government needs to encourage the Nigerian artists to design artworks depicting our culture, tradition and heritage. They can be positioned in strategic areas within towns for tourist attraction.
Also, viewing centres can be developed through this as a revenue-generating avenue since visitors could be charged certain amounts of money before they are allowed to see certain exclusive designs that are symbols of past traditional and native occurrences aimed at keeping their memories.
Memorabilia or memorials of ancestors whose names still ring bell among their descendants could be deposited in some galleries within a town or community to keep their memories.
When tourism centres are developed with beautiful art designs, they attract tourists. Their visits can improve the economy because they patronize hospitality, transport and entertainment industries.
Kenya, South Africa, Gambia, Cameroon among others depend largely on tourism to improve their economy.
Do you think arts works can help Nigerian artists in surviving the recession?
Very well! For instance, a painting that was bought by a collector at $37m in 1999 was sold for $148.89m last year because he kept it in his gallery and it appreciated in value 18 years after. So, if you invest your money in some beautiful work of arts, you will surely make profits. Art designs never go out of vogue because they are tourism and gallery designs. Recession can never affect people that can invest in the works of arts.