Opinion
The Yemisi Shyllon Museum Of Art: Reintroducing Africa In Modern African Art
By
Toyin Falola
The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA) and its extensive collection of traditional (antique) and modern art pieces—both African and foreign—represents an opportunity to create awareness and reintroduce art as a potent force for national reconstruction and transformation. The significance of the museum is also demonstrated by its unique position as the only such rich (private) collection of art made available to the public, especially in the face of the neglect and deterioration of existing centres (national museums) for the collection and preservation of the symbols of our national cultural heritage. The location of this “national resource” in an academic environment (the Pan Atlantic University) is most strategic. It will facilitate the museum’s vision to introduce and educate young people—through various youth engagement programmes—on the universality and versatility of art as a medium of communication, a source of inspiration and historical reconstruction, and as a symbol of social evolution and human creativity.
Walking through the museum, a young observant guest might wonder at the origins of the (different) art on display, especially contemporary art pieces that portray a blend in their subject, material, and form. Such an individual will be interested to know that this is an outcome of social evolution classified into stages based on the variance of their material cultures as reflected in their art subjects and forms. Also, that society is currently at the “commercial stage,” marked by increased cultural contact and exchange adequately captured by a blend of art cultures, producing a (modern) fusion. The current (Western-dominated) commercial stage in social evolution, recognized as having begun from the 15th century with the voyages of exploration, has been characterized by an intense race to assert cultural supremacy as justification for political domination and resource appropriation. In Africa, the initial appearance of mercantilist European nations on its southern shores meant the establishment of trade and diplomatic relations and the beginning of a gradual process of cultural exchange and influence. However, the decision by the more technologically advanced Europe to assert control over its “legitimate” trade with Africa as a means to guarantee unfettered access to its resources was followed by colonialism—a state of European socio-political and economic domination.
The 19th century western political, cultural, and economic hegemony in Africa was intellectually fostered through what is now known as “colonial historiography,” a body of knowledge based on a colonialist ideology that sought to establish western culture as the most advanced (supreme) and consequently renders the “Other” inferior. Thus, preparatory to and during colonialism, the African (south of the Sahara) saw every aspect of his existence—anatomy, psychology, philosophy, and agency—come under attack in the observation, analysis, and commentary of travellers/explorers, missionaries, colonial officials and intellectuals—anthropologists, sociologists, and historians—who sought to discredit, deny or demean everything (Black) African. To invoke Pentti Kanerva with reference to India:
…colonial historiography was part of an ideological effort to appropriate history as a means of establishing cultural hegemony and legitimising British rule…The basic idea embedded in the tradition of colonial historiography was the paradigm of a backward society’s progress towards the pattern of modern European civil and political society under the tutelage of the imperial power.
Figure 2: Artwork by Lanre Tejuosho, “made from discarded materials such as water sachets and packaging for food items such as salt, drinks and snacks.” Courtesy of YSMA.
In addition to the importance of establishing the validity or otherwise of these arguments in determining the extent to which African traditions and experiences have remained a major influence on the subject, technique, and form of African art in the “modern” era, there is also a need to provide a working definition of what the modern era connotes. This is important for situating our analysis within an ideal timeframe, one where the phenomenon of modern African art, which combines both African and Western art forms to produce an African hybrid under scrutiny, found expression. For Africa, this modern or contemporary era began with increased cultural contact between the continent and Europe. And if the 15th-century African coastal trade with the Portuguese marked the beginning of extensive cultural contact between Africa and Europe, the totalism of 19th and 20th-century European colonialism in Africa pushed the cultural relations to hegemonic levels. Thus, modernism here is linked with the growth of modernity in Africa, tied to colonialism and its modernization crusade.
READ ALSO: The Yemisi Shyllon Museum Of Art: Restoring African Art To Its Glory
As hinted above, “colonial historiography”—representative of a biased colonial ideology—was the tool deployed in the effort to demean and relegate the person (culture, tradition, and agency) of the African. Thus, the colonial education established to fulfill the colonial need for subordinate manpower initially paid no attention to African visual art as part of a tradition already written off as “primitive”. Moreover, as Chika Okeke-Agulu in his essay “Modern African Art” explains, “The notion of artistic freedom was antithetical to the ethos of colonialism.” “This notwithstanding,” continues Okeke-Agulu, “as colonialism made European material culture and ideas more available, artists from the colonies invented new artistic expressions that reflected Africa’s encounter with Europe and the rest of the globe”.
Art was not taught formally in the non-Islamic regions of Africa until the first decade of the 20th century and at the behest of educated Africans like Aina Onabolu (considered the region’s “first modern artist”), who impressed on the colonial administration in Lagos to introduce art courses to secondary schools. It was also a similar scenario in Islamic North Africa (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco) where, even with the substantial presence of Western artists—both visiting and settled—in what is known as the “Romantic era,” the colonial government did nothing to encourage the establishment of training. In Egypt, Prince Yusef Kamal, a politician, called for formal art education—the School of Fine Arts, Cairo, 1908. Furthermore, this forms one major reason the colonial or Western-style education is denied the originator of modern African art. Rather, as Chika Okeke-Agulu explains in “Modern African Art,” it is owed to “a few individuals to whom art as an autonomous practice became a medium for expressing their subjectivity and coming to terms with their sociopolitical circumstances—with their emergent modernities.”
Art in colonial Africa—in the pre-war years (before 1945)—became a vehicle for engaging the colonial establishment through sculptural and performance practices, which critiqued (with humor) the person of the colonialists—another evidence of African modern artistic expression outside Western education. The post-war period was also of remarkable significance to the development of modern African art. In reaction to the colonial government’s reluctance to establish art education, some African artists travelled to Europe for art training in European colleges, often on personal sponsorship. In Egypt and South Africa, art academies were in existence before the war. However, the racial situation in the South prevented the possibility of Black artists profiting from the institutional structures offered to their white counterparts. Some of South Africa’s pioneering (modern) Black artists, including Ernest Mancoba and Gerard Sekoto, were compelled to migrate to Europe to access such facilities. In Egypt and other parts of the Islamic North, the situation was slightly different. The departure of some of its pioneering artists followed their graduation from local art colleges like the Cairo School of Fine Arts, leaving for either Paris or London for higher studies.
African artists in this nascent stage of modern African art that coincided with the rise of anti-colonial sentiments used their art to communicate the social, political, and cultural changes experienced within colonial African society. Even in diaspora, where a crop of pioneering African modern artists from different regions of the continent—Ben Enwonwu (1919-94) Nigeria, Ernest Mancoba (1904-2002), South Africa, Christian Lattier (1925-1978), Ivory Coast, Mahmoud Muktar (1891-1934) Egypt, amongst others—sought higher educational opportunities, they followed the debates on colonialism and African independence, participated in Black Congresses, and through their art, contributed to the movement for emancipation. Notable among such independent art is Mahmoud Muktar’s sculpture Egypt Awakening.
Later on in the continent, the founding of art schools in Kumasi, Ghana (1936), Makerere, Uganda (1937), Khartoum, Sudan (1946), Ibadan and Zaria, Nigeria (1953 and 1955), provided opportunities for interaction between African artists, political activists, and writers. These art schools, which began with curricula modelled after European prototypes, were later steered towards inculcating and producing traditional African art forms by the society’s artists who established art societies, such as the Art Society of the College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria. Reporting this development in “Modern African Art,” Chris Okeke-Agulu explains that:
The society’s artists embarked on an aggressive recovery of traditional Nigerian art forms in all their historical variants. Combining media and techniques learned in art school, they encouraged less reliance on European subject matter and formal tropes. They were also concerned with the role of the artist in a culture in transition.
In response to the political mood (nationalist fervor) of the period symbolized by Nkrumah’s concept of African personality and Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Pan-Arabism, other African artists developed interests in indigenous art traditions and cultures, especially in the face of the intellectual attacks on colonial logic.
With African independence, some European-trained African modern artists returned home (except for South Africa) to serve their home governments in one administrative capacity or the other. And in their practice, they consciously adopted and adapted European art forms and techniques while turning to African traditions for inspiration. This, in 1964, led to the statements from William Fagg and Margaret Plass describing “contemporary” African art as an “extension of European art by a kind of involuntary cultural colonialism.” This attempt to decry modern African art as lacking “authenticity” and deny the African artist’s agency informs our question of the extent of “Africa in Modern African Art.”
In another vein, the post-independence decline in the role of art in African societies, which has been relegated mostly to serving tourists’ appetites and earning foreign revenue, is evidence of the dwindling appreciation of the historical, cultural, and political importance of art. Although this emphasis on servicing particular (foreign) tastes may not immediately pose tangible threats to the continued preservation of indigenous traditional art subjects, especially considering that the artworks are primarily valued for their otherness, the indigenous social relevance that gave these artworks their distinctive aesthetic quality/relevance might be lost, trapping African art in stasis. The YSMA is set to lead us on the right path.
Figure 3 Yemisi Shyllon, receiving an award.
(This is the third part of a series on The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art. Toyin Falola is a Humanity Chair and University Distinguished Teaching Professor, The University of Texas at Austin).
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By Toyin Falola
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei
Religion remains a much-debated issue, especially in Africa. It is one of the determining factors of our identity. It determines who we are, our beliefs, actions and reactions, and even our thought processes. Africans had their own culture and traditional religion until the advent of western civilization, which brought with it the ‘gift’ of Abrahamic religions—,Christianity and Islam—and judged African traditional religious practices as evil, pagan practice and witchcraft. The missionaries did a thorough job of making people believe that their religion was superior and righteous. Africans accepted these imported religions, and their traditional beliefs began to fade. Christianity and Islam are now the new order, and people are extremely devoted to these newly found Gods.
The Toyin Falola Interviews recently played host to music composer and songwriter, Beautiful Nubia. The question of Beautiful Nubia’s stance on religion pops up during the interview. He is known to promote African spirituality but has also defended foreign religions as advantageous. In response, he talks about his ancestral line: his paternal family were Olu Orogbo devotees (the Yoruba god of letters), and his maternal family were Ifa priests and Esu devotees. He said, “religion has always fascinated me like it gets people’s minds.” He opines that spirituality ties into what gets people so much into religion. Although he no longer practices religion, he affirms that these religions have positively influenced people to do good and show kindness to their fellow human beings.
He states, “Any organized religion has a set of dogma or doctrines they use to guide you to put you in there. You are there; it is like a strait jacket to keep you on the straight and narrow. Why I said religion is a good thing is because the purpose of this is to ensure that you stay on the straight and narrow, that you do good things.” We can agree that religion has contributed to the rise of morals to a certain extent, as the fear of God keeps many people from doing evil. It has curbed wickedness and negative traits inherent in humans and made many people see the world in a new light. Religion has spread the message of doing good and becoming a better human being.
Beautiful Nubia
The issue, however, is not the practice of these religions but the ability of leaders to sway people easily. Although imported religions have helped to stop the extremities of African religious practices, it has only accentuated people’s gullibility. Beautiful Nubia further states, “What is wrong with religion is that it gives certain people the power to use their followers. It is not the religion itself; it is the human beings who run these religious organizations who use their power to extract money from them and push them in the wrong direction.” Owning a church is one of the easiest and quickest ways to get rich, particularly in Nigeria. All that is needed to succeed in this business is to be a good actor, have nice clothes (suits, particularly), can win people over with words and give yourself an extraordinary title such as Rabbi.
It is common knowledge that the major reason why people attend church and Jumat services religiously are that they seek solutions to their problems. As much bad governance is enough to seek God’s intervention for various human issues ranging from terminal illnesses, protection, promotion, unhappiness, barrenness, unemployment, and marital problems, to poverty, which is an average African’s motivation to seek God’s face, also cause people to become staunch believers. To get swift, miraculous answers to these problems, many people fall prey to the traps of “men of God”, who only look to fill their pockets and bellies. This explains why a “pastor” would shut down his church after winning a 100 million Naira bet.
Pastors and Muslim clerics are considered mini gods who can do no wrong. The Bible verse, “touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm,” is an ever-ready response by Christians in defense of their highly revered pastors who would not think twice before taking advantage of their desperation to get their problems solved. They forget that a “man of God” is first a man. Religion has rendered humans gullible to the extent that they excuse things their religious leaders do that are not even in tune with what is written in the Holy books. How do you explain a pastor who sleeps with a woman looking for the fruit of the womb and says his sperm is the anointing that will cause her to have her child? What do we say to a pastor who instructs his congregation to bring a greater percentage of their salaries to him so that God can answer their prayers? Should the man who claims to be an alfa but has exploited so many people in the name of being a ‘wonder healer’ be left alone? Churches and mosques nowadays see the desperation of people and feed off it. Many people come to church for prosperity and get ripped off the little they have, all in the name of miracles, signs and wonders. You could be in a church service and then suddenly hear the pastor say, “I see seven stars. I need seven people who will give the Lord Seven Hundred Thousand to come out now at the count of seven. One, Two…Seven!” You will be amazed at the number of people who will run to the altar to give the ‘Lord’ that amount of money in this present economy. Unsurprisingly, some borrow money to give to their pastors to receive blessings, then struggle to pay back the borrowed money. Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop.
These men of God add false doctrines to their fraudulent, shady activities. Beautiful Nubia quotes his mother, a Christian singer, as saying, ” any church where they are a lot of people there, you know there are telling them lies there.” He made an example of a Muslim cleric who tells his followers that every other person is evil, an infidel and a pastor who tells his congregation that their Jesus is not a Jesus of poverty, that He died for them to be wealthy. It is now rare to find churches that preach about the kingdom of God and how to live a life that pleases God. Churches today entice and then mislead people.
Sometimes, people realize all these things are wrong but lack the courage to question these atrocities. According to Beautiful Nubia, “…as a child, you are fully indoctrinated, and as an adult, you are scared to question these beliefs.” Asking a pastor why he preaches only prosperity and how to get rich as a Christian would be considered as seeking the wrath of God because the pastor can call down fire to consume his ‘enemy’. Questioning an Imam on why he sleeps with young girls will only attract curses from the Quran on such a person, followed by “who are you to question God’s prophet? The ways and dealings of God are mysterious”. Really, who dares question these men of God? The fear that has been unconsciously programmed into your mind from a very young age holds your voice and makes you look away from the evils of these religious leaders.
This is not to say that there are no genuine men of God, but there is a plague of greedy religious leaders who, because of their power over their members, influence them to bend to their will while satisfying their greed and lust. “We should not focus too much on religion being our enemy. We need to focus more on ourselves, fix ourselves, and we can use traditional wisdom to do that”, says Nubia. The way we question and demand accountability from the government should be the same way we question our religious leaders. Not every “God says” is true. The Bible in 1 John 4:1 says, “Beloved , believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Many religious leaders are gods of their bellies and are only out to exploit people to put food in their fat stomachs and live expensive lifestyles with their poor congregation’s money. Child of God, shine ya eye!
This is Part 1 of the report on the interview with Beautiful on March 19, 2023. The extensive interview, which has received millions of views across different platforms, talks about the role of music in society. For the transcripts, see:
YouTube
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7fyHlf1QIsI
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