Creative Convergence: raising issues, harnessing untapped vibes

In the next few years Nigeria stands to reap in the excess of $500 million from art annually. This opinion as espoused six years ago by a notable visual art practitioner and researcher, Dr. Joe Musa, was enough to ignite a heated debate at the maiden conference of creative artists under the tag name – Creative Convergence. The creative (visual) art community reasonably dominated by the fine art practitioners like painters, sculptors, and designers is the main hub of the noble idea for the birth of this forum.

Art practitioners at the Creative Convergence forum

Jelili Atiku and the struggle in Ejigbo

By Molara Wood

The Netherlands Embassy in Lagos opened its doors to members of the Nigerian arts community recently for a celebration of one of their own, an artist under siege, in an event designed to send a message, that he is not alone. Anyone seeing performance artist Jelili Atiku on Friday, April 8, 2016, would have done a double take. He was resplendent in flowing, sunshine-yellow agbada traditional attire, topped with an abeti-aja (dog-eared) cap.

(L-R) Netherlands Ambassador John Groffen, Jelili Atiku and Fariba Derakhshani of Prince Claus Fund