tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6847402189451612636.post4369761403667698558..comments2024-02-10T12:42:22.954+01:00Comments on A-ARTs: Anxiety mounts over ‘destruction’ of historic art works at Lagos int’l airportafricanartswithtajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17423778773335111016noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6847402189451612636.post-64588636389329713422012-07-13T21:38:36.401+01:002012-07-13T21:38:36.401+01:00Let me thank Taju Sowole for bringing to the publi...Let me thank Taju Sowole for bringing to the public notice, the destruction of Nigerian Artists' works due to renovation work at the Murtala Muhammed Airport. I also thank the former President of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Prof. Dele Jegede for sending his write up to wake us up from our deep slumber. I read all the comments of some Nigerian Artists on the issue as published by Taju. The comments are okay to the extent that they shows our helplessness as visual art professionals. The SNA leadership should swing into action immediately and send a strong petition to the National Assembly so as to be able to find out where those art works are since the renovation started. Those art works must be preserved in their original form without defacing them. We need also to meet with the Authority of FAAN to tell us where those art works are currently relocated to or kept. The SNA leaders should come out and join us in condemning the destruction of Nigerian creative heritage that ought to have been preserved. I hope the National Gallery of Art would display its relevance by making comments on the issue after making its own urgent investigation. We also need to get in contact with Nigerian Institute of Architets to find out who the contracted Architect is and hold him or her responsible for the destruction of our artistic creations if is true.<br /><br />Ademola Azeez, Ph.D<br />Artist, Art Historian & Critic<br />Lagos, NigeriaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6847402189451612636.post-38778544719763002992012-07-13T16:18:27.631+01:002012-07-13T16:18:27.631+01:00dele jegede writes: I read with consternation and ...dele jegede writes: I read with consternation and extreme fright, the possibility that art works by two of Nigeria's foremost modern artists, Yusuf Grillo and Agbo Folarin, may have fallen victim to the renovation that is being undertaken at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. I would like to believe that this, indeed, is not the situation. I am, in the spirit of objective enquiry, like to request that the authorities responsible for the renovation at the MM Airport should please give us a clear, unambiguous, and categorical response with regard to the status of the works of these two masters. The questions that I would like answered include the following:<br />a) What is the status of ALL the art works at the MM International Airport?<br />b)What are the plans to fully integrate these works into the current or future rehabilitation plans?<br />c)Who are the credible, respectable, and knowledgeable Nigerians who are serving as consultants with regard to the integration of the current body of work at the airport, and the the overall issue of aesthetics of the renovated airport.<br /><br />Pray, let no one tell the Nigerian public that the integration and full incorporation of existing works at the airport into the new schema is an after thought. I am persuaded that any architect worthy of his or her name would not commit such travesty as disrespecting the monumental and epochal works of Nigerian artists—works that should, ideally, constitute the fulcrum of the country's creative and modern practice. <br /><br />This is not the time to apportion blames. Rather, this is the time for everyone who is concerned about the blatant disrespect which any defacement, neglect, removal, or de-accessioning of the body of work at the MM Airport to ACT. I anticipate that all art or art-loving organizations, private and public, at the state and national levels, should mobilize and prevail upon the authorities to rescind whatever decisions they may have taken, which are inimical to the Nigeria's creative heritage. I am clearly not against commissioning new works for the airport. But for the sake of all that is sane and decent, the thought of dispensing with any of the pieces at the airport—the master pieces by the likes of Grillo, Erhabor Emokpae, Agbo Folarin, Isiaka Osunde, and Uche Okeke?—should be perished. <br /><br />The arts community and, indeed, the Nigerian public deserves full and unvarnished explanation by the FAAN.<br /><br />dele jegede, Ph.D<br />Art Historian. Painter. Critic. <br />Professor of Art History<br />Miami University <br />Oxford. Ohio 45011. USAdele jegedehttp://www.dele-jegede.comnoreply@blogger.com