By ONUOHA OLIVER
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Concept/aim
Drawing is my passion and anytime I pick up my pencil, I always depict human emotions, human culture which is not just limited to only Africa. I try to depict people’s environment and showcase their behavioural patterns. I don’t just draw for the fun of it, what really strikes my mind when drawing is emotions and gestures of the images I am drawing.
Motivations
What really keeps me going is my believe in God. The gift that I have is not common because a lot of people long to have something like this and I always thank God for giving such a talent. On thing I have learnt over the years is that, if God bestows some talents on you, you don’t have to be pompous and feel like you are on top of the world. Instead, the individual must see himself as still undergoing a learning process.
Style/Technique
I don’t do much of abstract art. If you look at my works, they tilt towards naturalism. By that school of thought, I was trained to draw what I see. It is more of realism if you like, but it depends on the individual and critics to place my works.
Philosophy
Whatever I do, I make sure I do it well. The road might be rough and like they say, the parts to success is not always smooth. You just have to be focused always and at the end of the day, you’ll get there.
Feminism
Now that I am coming out as a female artist, I have been opportuned to meet other female artists and talents. To my amazement, many of our female artists are so timid, you hardly hear of them. Maybe it is because of their background and upbringing and for some, it could be the influence from their parents who decide what they want their children to become. In my case, I’ve received support right from the womb to become what I wanted to be.
Challenges
Being a female artist has always given me an edge in class but I don’t allow it to get into my head. The challenges are numerous but I faced a particular challenge when I wanted to get a job. I was told that the particular job was meant for a man and not a woman. It was the production manager who saw the zeal in me and told the employer to give me a chance. Again, people used to undermine me because of my stature.
Role model/mentor
There’s one person I really admire his works and his name is Angel. He was the one who introduced me to the charcoal as a medium of painting. Initially, I was crazy about pencil until I met Angel. He encourages up-coming artists unlike others who will destroy your works without seeing anything good in it.
Nigerian art scene
I thank God that Nigerians have started to recognise that artists are noble people, not as crazy lots.. The attitude of Nigerians has changed a lot towards artists. In terms of promoting and marketing arts, some collectors are trying their best by organising exhibitions for young and upcoming artists. The only problem is in the area of marketing; most people don’t buy our works because they would ask, " is she Tola Wewe, or Olu Ajayi or Kolade Oshinowo? Things are not supposed to be so because, I wonder how they want the young ones to survive and fend for themselves?
Exhibitions
The first exhibition I did was titled Experience Nigeria in 2003, after which I did another one with Nigeria Association of Female Artist in 2004 and it was really nice. What really pained me about the exhibition was that a lot female artists had little knowledge of the existence of the association. In 2005, I also featured in Experience Nigeria again and was part of the Art Café exhibition organised by the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) and lately, NAFEST in 2005.
Preferred medium
I can express myself the more with the pencil. It’s a kind of medium one can use to express visual information and later transfered into another medium. It is very convenient and less expensive and you’ll go places if you are very skillful with it.
Future plan
I want to take my art round the country and internationally.
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