Mcphilips Nwachukwu
29 June 2008
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Lagos — I have never been so moved to understanding the meaning of the phrase; servant-leader until recently when I reluctantly agreed to go to Enugu to cover the just concluded Life in My City Arts Festival, which held at the prestigious Protea Hotel, Nike Lake Enugu. Prodded by an invitation from one of the vision fathers of the project, Kevin Ejiofor, former Director General at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) to the editor of Vanguard, Gbenga Adefaye, I was asked to prepare and go to Enugu for a coverage of the programme.
I had reluctantly refused to accept the invitation based on two reasons: One, I had wanted to take a break in Lagos having just come out of a bout of malarial fever. Two, the manner in which programmes of the arts and culture are being pursued and promoted in the country is not as encouraging as to convince any serious follower of developments in the sector, at least in the last ten years to go and waste a whole precious one week in the name of one God's forsaken festival.
Gerard Chouin...presence of students and teachers not encouraging
But every one of these perceptions turned out to be premised on the opposite, when my young friend, Ovo Adagha, who has all these years stood in for me at every cultural event in Enugu came and picked me at Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu on landing and drove me to the office of the Enugu based Alliance Francaise's director, Gerard Chouin at Ogui Layout.
Immediately on being introduced to the charming and friendly looking director of the French Cultural Centre, he quickly struck me as a man of immense energy and profound thinking. Quickly, he introduced himself and offered me a seat, and this was about 05.30pm because I had travelled by evening flight.
After the ritual exchange of bantries, he did not waste time in introducing me to his two office assistants and from there, took me immediately to join the discussion class of Professor Chike Aniako, renowned professor of art history, who spoke on the place of culture in tourism development.
Chouin was everywhere and went about his office duties with clean face and open smiles. He was very conscious of the fact that most of his visitors were coming in from outside Enugu and, therefore, decided to go about seeing to the comfort of every of his invitee personally.
Besides making sure that his visitors have had a secure place to keep their luggage, he was also on his heels to make sure that they are checked into hotels and served lunch and dinner on time and as at when due. The friendship which Gerard's looming image radiates in and around the cultural environment of Alliance Francaise premises and around the culture clime of Enugu is seen and felt in the way and kind of popularity which the handsome director enjoys among the teeming number of artists, culture loving people and language students of the centre, who come to him freely to discuss whatever problems they so need his intervention.
Besides, the energetic director is seen by many indigenes of the state as a God given gift with a salvaging mission of transforming the cultural climate and energy of the state. According to, Kevin Ejiofor,'Gerard has changed the cultural climate of the city.'
And there is no doubting this fact, when viewed from the fact that the amiable director, since assumption of office in the Enugu station has demonstrated good understanding of his environment and was quick to find out that Enugu State has comparative advantage on the visual art sector over other cultural products and hence, his commitment to transforming Enugu to becoming the leading visual arts market in West Africa. On the realization of this fact, the professionally trained archeologist went into massive discovery, revival and promotion of art traditions and artists. His commitment in this direction led to the hosting of many solo and group exhibitions at the centre which included Mr.ISI, A solo exhibition by Enugu based sculptor Chris Afuba, Art Everywhere, a group solo under the leadership of Ayo Adewumni, The Story of Stories by Kyrz Ikwuemesi and Enugu Craft Fair, which metamphorsed into Life in My City Arts Festival among several others.
Life in My City...as a matter of fact, is said to a dream vision of Gerard sold to ROCANA and PACA. The project visioned to investigate how the city shapes the lives and imaginative responses of artists, also succeeded in creating a critical and engaging climate, where not only the issues of art was discussed, but also became a forum, where the Igbo sat together in a very long time, to examine the fate of the Igbo language, which presently hangs precariously on the fringes of extinction.
The fact that French director of a leading language institute would design a language discourse session in a visual art programme to discuss the fate of a dying language of another culture and a different continent is both testimony of Gerard's humanism and deep intellectual perception. One on one, he talks about the plight of Nigerian artists, the non appreciation of the worth of art and lack of critical knowledge of the imperatives of cultural and archeological history in the country with deep regrets. At a dinner table during one of the dinner sessions, he sadly told a group of visitors comprising artists, scholars and journalists that Nigeria seems not to understand the value of her cultural and historical endowments.'
Can you imagine that there is no department of archeology at the University of Benin? And Benin is the archeological treasure of the West.' He said frowning his face. His conviction to sell the idea of an international art show in Enugu stems from his understanding of the vibrant visual art opportunities that abound in the coal city. "We understand that art is not taken as seriously as it should in the state and, therefore, felt we could do something to change that thinking," he told this reporter.
However, it has not been all rosy for the hard working director, whose tenure is expected to end in August. The job on its own poses its own challenges as some of the well intentioned programmes in the thinking of Gerard are not appreciated. Take for instance, this art festival; we expected that more students and teachers will attend and participate in the various programmes designed to enhance their chosen vocations. But sadly, the crowd is not as encouraging as one would expect, he complained. However this challenge, Gerard Chouin in the estimation of his huge crowd of admirers, will for a very long time live in the memory as a man of great achievements. His personality would be said to have been constructed around the Chinese expression of a man born in interesting times. And truly, he enjoyed those interesting times and made determined effort to put them at good use.
No wonder then, that Pan African Circle of Artists (PACA), artists advocacy group considered it worth doing to confer a honourary membership of her association on him; an honour, which Gerard himself, in all humility accepted and confessed his deeply felt happiness.
Frankly speaking, my brief encounter with this great man of talent was like an encounter with a Zahir. An encounter with a person or a phenomenon, the experience of which one would always remember. Essentially in this man, is a complete fusion of the spirit of a servant leader.
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