Ezekiel Udubrae is the Director of Udubrae Art Gallery, National Museum, Jos as well as the Chairman of The Society of Nigerian Artists, Jos. He talks with Sam Anokam about arts in the tin city.
Udubrae’s work
What to you is the importance of artworks to Nigerians?
Creativity begins with man and it is the product of his handworks that tells the story of his past. Artworks are the history of the people. We are only replicating with our forefathers have done as they were known as craftsmen during their days. The works of those craftsmen have gone places beyond where we expected them to be because of the type of the works they produced. Currently, we, who are their followers have produced ours and the generation yet unborn will see the creativity that have been put in place.
What exactly does it take to establish an art gallery?
I started my first gallery in Jos Museum in 1998 and established Udubrae Art Gallery when I was transferred from Ibadan to Jos Museum. That was after my retirement in 2010. In my gallery, I have paintings and ceramics. Occasionally, artistes come to hold exhibitions too. There are also other works of other artists within and outside Plateau state.
What is your take on some people’s perception that artworks, sculptures are fetish?
All sculptural pieces are not fetish, they are just illustrations. It is the creativity of man that he sees around him that he has put down in form of sculptures, they are not used for any celebration rather they are used for decorative purposes. Artworks or sculptures are not fetish but it is what they are being used for or applied to that makes them fetish. Some people use sculptural works for their own personal needs i.e. worship.
What to you is the importance of Archeology?
Archeology is very important because whatever is already in place can be re-validated through the works of the archeologist. Without Archeology, you cannot write our history. It is reconstructing the history of the people. Archeology is important and even necessary in the life of the people especially when construction work is going on and relics are discovered, it is the archeologist that will be called to go to the site to go and interpret or see the usefulness of those works.
Are students being encouraged to study Archeology?
It was a department for the training of archeologists and other professionals like museologists, so the museum is doing their
best in upgrading the knowledge of the archeologists in Nigerians museums. Also other institutions send in their archeologists for training at the Institute of Archeology and Museum Studies.
What are the materials you work with?
I work with colors as a painter but currently, I am experimenting with other media such as sawdust, glue and waste to wealth by using what is in my environment to create works that people would admire. I use those waste materials that people have discarded to produce artworks that they later admire and cherish.
Could you talk about your works?
When visitors/tourists come to my gallery, they want to see the people in the environment that they live in Nigeria. So, my works are man’s interpretation of the environment and most of the works that I do creates the essence of the people around me. For example, my paintings depict the traditional buildings of the Berom people or Taroh people. Up North here, grasses grow all over the places and they use the grasses to cover their huts. Another work, depicts Benue dancers and it shows their costumes and it takes about a month for me to complete the work because oil painting takes time for it to get dried.
What are the messages in your works?
The messages in my artworks are preserving today for tomorrow because it is the activities of the people of today that I am concentrating on and tomorrow the unborn generation will see the type of artworks that existed before their time.
I also showcase that there is need to maintain people in the country.
Could you share some of the challenges artists face in Jos?
The major challenge that artistes face is finance because the materials for artworks are imported and due to the recession in the country, the materials are expensive. Another challenge is the coming together of people for exhibitions because it is not easy to bring people to attend exhibitions in the country and we want to bring the younger generation to come together and associate with themselves so that they can grow and learn from the elderly ones.
Abroad artworks are used as collateral, have we got to the stage where art works can be used as collateral?
At the stage that we are now, it is not possible to use artworks as collaterals in the banks because the banker will not see the value but with time, artworks will be used as collaterals in the bank because artworks have much value in them.
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