Lagos Artists Celebrate Nike Okundaye

ON Saturday, October 3, the Lagos State Chapter of the Society of Nigerian Artists hosted the visual art community to an exclusive exhibition of 65 artists. It was in fulfilment of its annual exhibition called October Rain 2020.

The show itself, titled Resilience, was commendably staged in honour of the most decorated Nigerian female artist, Nike Okundaye.

Participants comprise generations of artists led by the legendary Bruce Onobrakpeya and Nike Okundaye herself. Other exhibiting artists include Sam Ovraiti, Abiodun Olaku, Muri Adejimi, Steve Ekpenisi, Rukeme Noserime, Mufu Onifade, Sam Ebohon, Fidelis Odogwu and a host of other outstanding artists.

The opening ceremony was garnished with the royal presence and blessing of His Royal Majesty, Oba Dr. (Arc.) Aderemi Adeen Adeniyi-Adedapo (the Obalufon Alayelemo Olojudo of Ido-Osun Kingdom) whose oratory and prowess in literature and language arrested the guests in attendance. Apart from performing his role as Special Guest of Honour, he generously conferred chieftaincy titles on 5 accomplished members of the Society namely Dotun Alabi (former Chairman of the Society), Idowu Sonaya (current Chairman of the Society), Mufu Onifade (who served effectively on three committees for the exhibition), Nkang Ini Dan (Chairman, Planning Committee) and Mrs. Omoligho Udenta (Ex-Officio, SNA Lagos).  

Though the celebrant, Nike Okundaye was absent from the ceremony, but her space was adequately covered by the royal guest whose presence added colour and royalty to the show. Nike Okundaye has received many accolades across the globe including a Ph.D. (Honoris Causa) from the Rhodes University, South Africa; yet, nothing can be more satisfying than being celebrated by one’s professional colleagues. It’s an honour of a lifetime, and the celebrant did not miss the opportunity of the celebration.

Yemisi Shyllon, Nigeria’s notable art collector lavished Okundaye with words that exhumed her virtues as an artist and promoter. He said, “At age 69, Mama Nike, as she is fondly called, is still waxing strong. She has significantly promoted Nigerian contemporary visual art in Nigeria and globally. At the Nike Art Centres in Osogbo, Ogidi and Abuja, some over 2,000 women are engaged and tirelessly churning out amazing fabric designs. In addition, the Lagos Nike Art Centre is home to some of her own produced artworks, her joint works with Tola Wewe and over 8,000 different genres of artworks on sale consignment with different artists. She has, over the years, managed her different galleries in Osogbo, Abuja, Ogidi and Lagos without any blemish in her congenial and happy working relationship with artists.”

NIKE Okundaye’s life had never been on a rollercoaster from the start. She went through hard times and paid her dues diligently and assiduously before she stabilized in the terrain of art. At the cradle of her life, she sold leaves and bush meat to make ends meet. According to Akin Onipede, artist and scholar, “Nike’s story is easier recounted in writing than experienced. Her path was filled with struggles and deprivations of huge proportions.”

Although she hails from Ogidi-Ijumu in Kogi State, it was at Osogbo that the fortune of art began to smile at Nike. She assumed the role of an adult at an early age when she lost both her mother and grandmother. At Osogbo, her travails continued until she discovered and redeveloped her artistic talent. In the words of Onipede, “Osogbo in the late 1950s had started evolving as a great centre of Yoruba art.

The town, buoyed by her fairly urban status, centrality and the Osun deity factor, had begun to witness a convergence of divergent artistic talents and personalities such that prior to Nike’s coming in the late 60s, the town had played host to a series of performances and workshops by creative individuals notable amongst whom were Kola Ogunmola, Duro Ladipo, Ulli Beier, Susanne Wenger, Georgina Beier, Denis Williams, Jacob Lawrence and Ru van Rossem. Also, the first crop of the famous Osogbo artists had been produced and names such as Jimoh Buraimoh, Taiwo Olaniyi, Muraina Oyelami, Rufus Ogundele, Jacob Afolabi and Bisi Fabunmi were already consolidating on their artistries.”

Unlike the popular notion that Nike only encountered art at Osogbo, she was actually born into art families. She said, “I was born into art: my parents were all artists. I belong to the 5th generation of artists in my direct family lineage. My parents were artists. My grandparents, great grandparents and great-great grandparents were into adire making, indigo dyeing. Specifically, my great-grandmother was into weaving. 

“My mother was also into embroidery, weaving and painting with adire before she died.  She was not up to 30 years old when she died.” However, the profundity of Osogbo as an artistically fertile land had created a sure path through which crystallization of Nike’s destiny was reaffirmed. Today, she is an artist, artiste, gallery owner, entrepreneur, culture activist, Non-Governmental individual, ambassador extraordinaire, feminist, humanist, and more, she has grown to become a subject of art historical studies in art schools within and outside Nigeria.

NIKE Okundaye, had a lot she had stomached for years until she bared it all in an incisive interview she granted Mufu Onifade and Evelyn Osagie. She revealed the secret of her mother-daughter relationship with the late Austrian artist and custodian of Yoruba culture and tradition, Suzzane Wenger, popularly called Adunni Olorisa, who lived at Osogbo where she served as intermediary between Yoruba deities – especially Osun (goddess of fertility) and man – till she breathed her last. Their relationship was so deep that Nike got from Wenger a cat as a gift (as specified in her will)!

Nike had been married twice to Taiwo Olaniyi (Twin Seven Seven) and David John Davies before she eventually met her present husband, former Commissioner of Police, Chief Reuben Osaruyi Okundaye. Her experience in the first marriage sounds like stories one can only read in a book.

She narrates, “My first husband was a musician and an artist from our village. He fell in love with my adire. I was around 19 years of age when we got married. When I married him, we were 15 wives in all. It was like Kalakuta house – everyday was fight. So, I decided to move on after 15 years. It started when I began having white friends. They opened my eyes to what was obtainable in America – the one man/one woman system (monogamy).

“While in America, I asked the women if their husbands married additional wives other than them, and they said no. When I came back from America, I told the other wives that there was a place where one could have one man to oneself; and they said, ‘Take me there’ (Laughs). And I told them, ‘Your work will take you there. Let me teach you this work that took me to America.’ That was how I taught them adire. Eventually, when their eyes were opened, they left! And he (Twins Seven-Seven) married another set of seven wives.”

BACK to October Rain 2020, the show’s bedrock, as distinct from the past editions, is the quality of works exhibited. The standard is high and the jurors have been commended for a job well done. How did they achieve this? Sam Ovraiti, Chairman of the Panel of Jurors, has this to say, “First, we established the criteria for assessment of all works submitted for the show. In earnest, we commenced the jurying process, which lasted days. At the first collation, some works fell below the standard set with articulated criteria for selection. They fell to the jurors’ blade. We took the second and third looks at the remaining batch, taking into consideration creativity and originality. Each member of the Panel had the floor to articulate his evaluation of each work based on stated rules and criteria.”