Tam Fiofori
30 November 2008
document
Lagos — The 10th edition of the Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF), yearly organised by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), a non-governmental, non-profit-making, interventionistic arts club rounded off penultimate Sunday amidst fanfare. This paper, presented at the occasion, argues for inclusion of photography in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
SADLY, there is a very disappointing minimal presence of photography in the exhibited collection of the National Gallery of Art; the NGA. This obvious and discouraging fact, is enough evidence for me to be tempted to rephrase the topic of this keynote address as, 'The Non-Visibility of Photography in the Nigerian Art Gallery Space'; moreso as the National Gallery of Art by its official mandate, is supposed to cater for artists, photographers and architects and, thereby, should set the direction and standards for other private Art Galleries in Nigeria to emulate.
The current situation whereby the official custodian of the welfare and creative growth of photography in Nigeria, has knowingly or unknowingly refused to play its designated national role, comes as no surprise to me.
My careful observations from the sidelines; as a practising independent filmmaker and photographer for nearly four decades, have led me to the justifiably cynical conclusion that the so-called cultural experts and administrators in the Nigerian Civil Service, have woefully failed their large and thriving constituency of practising Nigerian artists-cum-contemporary culture producers as well as the nation itself.
A Nigerian ambassador; a one-time prominent dramatist and now a very visible frontline culture activist, remarked many years back; during the opening of an art exhibition at a foreign-government cultural centre in Lagos, that these foreign cultural centres have done more for Nigerian culture than the Nigerian government agencies and institutions set up specifically to promote culture and
contemporary culture-producers.
It is also very true that these foreign cultural centres as well as many private art galleries have done so much more to exhibit and develop the growth of creative photography in Nigeria than the official government agency responsible for photography in Nigeria.
These encouraging realities are enough inspirational consolation to make me enthusiastically want to examine the topic, The Visibility of Photography in the Nigerian Art Gallery Space, and hopefully, offer some relevant insights and useful suggestions.
Definitely, a whole lot more has to be done, and urgently too, to give photography its respect and rightful place of honour in the Nigerian Art Gallery space! It is logical to begin by situating the place of photography in the history of contemporary art in Nigeria.
Apart from the unfortunate fact that the established Nigerian art historians have done little or no research and written work on photography in Nigeria, they also are much uninformed about the chronological position of photography in the history of the development of contemporary art in Nigeria.
It will, therefore, come as a big surprise to Nigerian art historians, gallery owners, art collectors and the general art-loving community that photography blazed the trail for the recognition, admiration and respect of Nigerian art in the Western world more than a century ago!
Interestingly, it was the classic traditional bronze and ivory works from the ancient Benin Kingdom, that in the 16th Century; more than five hundred years ago, first drew attention to the creative excellence and cultural wealth of the people that inhabit the geographic space now known as Nigeria. Back then; first the Portuguese and then later other Europeans, marvelled and wondered how such exquisite and highly creative bronze and ivory works could be produced by black people in the so-called primitive continent of the world.
Four hundred years after Benin bronze and ivory works caught and still retained the artistic and socio-political attention of the Western world; it was photography by a Nigerian; documenting the oscillating political fortunes of the same Benin Kingdom as well as socio-political institutions, cultural activities and the nature-endowed environment within what is now known as the Niger- Delta of Nigeria, that also dramatically introduced contemporary creative art from Nigeria to the Western and entire world.
At this juncture, it is very pertinent to establish that photography has long been recognised and categorised in academic, artistic and cultural circles worldwide as a creative art form and, continuing arguments about whether photography is a craft or skill, are at best, petty and spurious.
Secondly, I am not an advocate of the simplistic logic that first is best. Having established these two important yardsticks, I can now proceed to talk about achieving more visibility for photography in the Nigerian Art Gallery space. Politics and art have become inseparable in today's world. The medium that has best dramatically documented this lasting international reality is photography.
The world, therefore, took attention of the historic British politically-driven military invasion of the Benin Kingdom; resulting in the sacking and looting of the palace of Oba Ovonramwen of Benin of its precious and now priceless bronze and ivory works; and the eventual banishment of Oba Ovonramwen to Calabar in 1897. Incidentally, these looted bronze and ivory artworks are currently in the British Museum and other prestigious museums abroad.
Historic documentary photographs showing a distraught Oba Ovonramwen in leg chains guarded by bare-foot native policemen with bayonet-mounted rifles; on board a ship to his exile in Calabar, were prominently published in the leading newspapers and periodicals in Britain and Europe.
The photographer responsible for these explosive images and, subsequent images of powerful kings and chiefs of the Niger-Delta as well as still-documentaries on the culture and environment of this region of Nigeria was J.A.Green.
Most times, these photographs were used without proper credit given to their producer and, in keeping with the cultural racism of the times; which had earlier doubted whether Nigerians and Africans could produce the bronze and ivory masterpieces from Benin, when these photographs were credited to a J.A.Green; it was automatically assumed that he was a white man and European! Other times his works were listed as taken by an 'unknown' photographer.
As from 1897, Green's historic and creative photographs were published in Western books and periodicals and, in the popular and prestigious The Illustrated London News. Incredibly, a whole century after Green's emotionally-wrenching photograph of Oba Ovonramwen in leg chains en-route to exile was widely published in Britain and Europe, the same photograph was used as the cover photograph for the programme of the play on Ovonramwen written by Ahmed Yerima and first performed at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.
It is certain that the supplier of the photograph, the designer of the programme, the playwright, cast and sponsors of the play were then, and now, not aware that this powerful, dramatic and creatively-composed photograph was the work of J. A. Green, a Nigerian!
Thankfully, after more than two decades of intense research and many visits to private collectors, educational institutions, libraries and museums like the Maritime Museum, Liverpool and Unilever Archives, London; where most of Green's works are in collection, two American professors of art, Martha G. Anderson and Lisa L.Aronson, have emphatically established the fact that Green was actually Jonathan Adagogo Green, an Ibani Ijaw, born and bred in Bonny in now Rivers State. Such was Green's professional confidence, level of competence and creative inspiration that he stamped his photographs with the inscription: 'J. A. Green, Artist Photographer.'
Indeed, Jonathan Adagogo Green is Nigeria's first artist-cum-creative photographer. He was in such demand between 1890 and the early 1900s, that he photographed for the British colonial administrators, British and European merchants and, travelled from Bonny to different parts of the Niger-Delta, Warri and Calabar. Luckily for Nigeria, Professors Anderson and Aronson who are being assisted by Emeritus Professor E.J.Alagoa and his team on the home front are working towards a book and eventual exhibitions of J.A.Green's works.
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