A
newsletter covering the cultural outreach of Segun Olorunfemi and
friends
Issue 1
Summer 2001
Segun
arrived in April on
the tail end of our last snowstorm of 2001. His fourth visit to the
US has seen a full schedule negotiated by Marcy Schepker. A variety
of projects, workshops and exhibits have expanded the cultural outreach
and exchange initiated over seven years ago with their first meeting
in Brussels, Belgium as counterparts in VSA arts International. Those
of us who have had the pleasure of working with Segun continue to deepen
our appreciation of the labor of love this Yoruba Nigerian artist has
undertaken. We invite you to read about this year’s activities and join
in support of a unique exchange and journey of discovery.
The
2001 visit has been an exchange between VSA arts Nigeria and VSA arts
New Hampshire and has enabled Segun to conduct seven major workshops
including a weeklong session at Plymouth State College teaching teachers.
Most of the sessions have been invitational return engagements. The
opportunity to schedule storytelling, arts projects and questions is
a mini-festival format, which promises to blossom into a true festival
of Sankofa.
This year Christopher Abdul Yisa Onibasa, an internationally
traveled dancer and prominent choreographer from Nigeria has joined
Segun. We are indebted to these two emissaries for their grassroots
approach to initiating cultural exchange. Those familiar with the legendary
Babatunde Olatunji will be delighted to hear that members of that troupe
performed with Segun at the Spaulding Youth Center in Tilton
in April.
The
legacy being established includes the arts as well as an outreach for
support of projects in Nigeria. Segun’s awareness of the need to help
people with disabilities in Nigeria has been an integral part of his
visits here. We invite you to help with your talents, resources, imagination
and love.
 The
Mobility Project
Imagine requiring crutches, a wheelchair, walker
or other mobility aid and having no source from which to obtain it. This
is the condition faced by the majority of the physically disabled in Nigeria.
The situation is intensified by the fact that those who have no means
of mobility remain housebound and uncounted. Segun, as a longstanding
representative of Very Special Arts Nigeria has initiated The Mobility
Project.
Our used and stored aids represent a twofold contribution
to our Nigerian neighbors. By providing the needed aids we enable participation
as well as the means to get people out to be counted and embraced by the
community.
How you can Help
Bring your mobility aid to LifeArt Community Resource Center in Keene.
Or call for pick-up:
Heidi Miller 603 429 3083 or 603 424 5931
Marcy Schepker for Pear Tree Studio (603) 827-3014
or call: 603 499 2010
The
Batik Project:
“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day,
teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.”
Cottage Industry is a model for a workshop being
developed in Ibadan by Segun. The vision of a Batik training studio serving
people with disabilities is a grassroots effort, which has secured the
funds for the first year of studio space rental. Nigerian batik artists
will be employed to train the disabled in traditional techniques, which
produce classical as well as innovative fabric design. By networking
with shops and international cottage industry marketing groups, the products
will be sold in the US and abroad. Segun brought 12 batik shirts with
him this year and all have been sold.
Meet:
Christopher Abdul Yisa Onibasa
Yoruba dancer and choreographer Christopher Abdul
Yisa Onibasa honors us with a brief visit before returning to West Africa
in July. Touchdown in Nigeria will be even more brief as he immediately
heads to Cotonoue, Republic of Benin to complete the choreography of works
scheduled to tour France in October.
In 1995 Mr. Onibasa was the recipient of a grant
through the French Embassy to work with the French Centre Choreographique
National du Nantes. This led to a tour of France for the Omitun
Cultural Dancers for whom Mr. Onibasa was the chief choreographer. Crossing
the English Channel, he was commissioned by the BBC to create a musical
piece and was then celebrated as a “Star Artist” in a nationally broadcast
interview. While in Nigeria Mr. Onibasa taught an 11-day workshop on pedagogy
and creativity in African contemporary dance at the French Cultural Centre,
Lagos.
Under the aegis of the Wole Soyinka Project Mr. Onibasa
was commissioned as choreographer cum Musical Director for “Monstres et
Salim Banques” (“Mad Men and Specialists” by Dr.Wole Soyinka, PhD.) which
toured France this year in conjunction with Theatre Grenoble, France
Mr. Onibasa has graciously provided three videotapes
of performances to the Education Program of the Friends of the Thorne-Sagendorph
Art Gallery at Keene State College. Again crossing borders, Christopher
joined Segun in an opening celebration in Bellows Falls at the NEWMAH
Gallery, a new and growing arts collective of the region.
The Future…”Sankofa”
(“to go back and retrieve”)
Segun’s dream for the future is a festival named
”Sankofa”. The sign/symbol ‘sankofa’ originated in Ghana and appears throughout
the continent with varied name and expression. There are three proverbs
of Yoruba land connected to Sankofa:
v
“It is not a taboo to go back and retrieve if you forget.”
v
“The past offers a guide for the future.”
v
“When a child falls, he always looks forward, but when an
elder falls he looks back to see what has caused his fall.”
Envisioned as a festival including art exhibits,
lectures, symposia, workshops, dancing, drumming, plays, Segun is currently
looking for a launching venue. The goals of the festival are
Ø
To retrieve many forgotten African cultures which still
exist in the memory of our elders, but have been supplanted by industrial
cultures.
Ø
To bring the direct thread of this fast disappearing treasure
into the limelight for this generation and that of our children.
Ø
To insure preservation of this body of retrieved knowledge
for educational and developmental continuity in African culture for the
next generation.
Structured as a flexible package, which can vary
in size and focus the Sankofa project would schedule and book one year
prior to festival. Booking is anticipated for 2003. Mini-festivals in
2002 will be scheduled
How you can help:
A technical booklet for staging has been drafted and boilerplate for
promotional package has been acquired. We need typists and proofreaders.
Grant writer extraordinaire
needed!!
Contact: Segun Olorunfemi info@segunfemi.com
Approaching
a New Understanding of Yoruba Post-Colonial Nigeria
The historical realities of contemporary Africa as
experienced by Americans are filtered through a lens of western culture.
Conventional popular media while adept at introducing ideas lacks the
capacity to go beyond the limitations of the technology. Though appreciation
of this limitation is growing, there is no replacement for timely, extended
live interaction. Opportunities for exchange of arts and culture entail
consideration of how this is undertaken.
Where American culture recognizes museum curation
and collection of a body of artwork, traditional Yoruba culture exercises
fully integrated arts presence in everyday life. “Art” as such informs
every aspect of life, is not ‘collectible’, and evolves with a depth and
dynamic structure celebrating continuity of life. The language of this
traditional dynamic sustains technical intricacy and mastery in innovative
creations. Knowledge of the aesthetic elements of this transmission is
part of the mission of our Yoruba visitors. The inclusion of a broad representation
of Nigerian arts reflecting the cyclical festival celebrations allows
for a taste of the scope of artistic impact on everyday life.
Nigeria since independence in 1960 has been
struggling with an increasingly strong democratic movement integrating
pre-colonial integrity with political realities. Economic factors reflecting
an oil rich region and the sudden wealth have contorted function, frequently
to the detriment of domestic stability. International recognition of traditional
integrity finds a singular voice through the arts.
In 1986 the Nobel Prize in literature was awarded
to Wole Soyinka. Yoruba by birth, Professor Soyinka articulated complex
truths, which could be understood by the international community. As an
artist his work has been embraced, influencing debate, creative voice,
and salient contributions around the world. Within Yoruba culture as a
play-write Soyinka’s work supports a threatened, traditionally inclusive
perspective informing life and artistic expression. The Yoruba voice is
community based and sustains integration challenging traditional western
concepts of the arts.
As participants in cultural exchange we stand on
a threshold offering vision and experience which can inform profound insights
into evolving unity of the global community. Modern art in the west has
seen African influence from an assimilative perspective. It is incumbent
upon us to engage contemporary post-colonial artists from Africa with
their own vision and voice. The present adult generation in Nigeria is
unique and unspeakably valuable.
The term “Post-Colonial” is not simply an archive
designation. It is the present time period. The youth of western Africa
are being lost to the unrest and disruption fostered by the legacy of
colonialism. In past generations the traditional social and economic structure
embraced and nurtured the youth of Nigeria. With the oil boom of the 70’s
(the wealth of which undermined the agricultural base), the traditional
structure was severed. Domestic and export markets for agricultural production
evaporated. A massive exodus from rural farms to urban areas was necessitated
by the import of cheap foreign goods. Families and young people have been
splintered by the sudden imbalance and seeking of economic survival. Within
a single generation an entire way of life has faced a sadly familiar fate
of developing nations. Nigeria’s national debt severely threatens the
capacity to recover and sustain domestic stability. Segun and his
colleagues represent a core of artists and concerned Nigerians carrying
the traditional inheritance, which if not recognized and supported will
disappear with this generation.
Written by: Meg
Kidd.
Keen, NH. USA.
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