Preserving Cultural Heritage Through the Eyes of Sobayo

From creating the ‘headless’ Fela monument to establishing Jelosimi Art Centre -a community art institution in Oshodi, the multi-disciplinary artist, Abolore Sobayo relishes cultural preservation as shown in his third solo exhibition called ‘Jelesinmi’. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

A tour of the facility is inevitable for any one arriving for the first time to see the first privately owned art institution in the district of Oshodi and environs. Founded by Abolore Sobayo, an humourous culture-centric artist of diverse expressions, the centre currently holds a self-titled show, “Jelesinmi Series 1: Ile lati n ko eso rode.’’ The white walls in the exhibition hall was lined with slates-turned-canvasses that bore some parts of the Yoruba cultural heritage that the artist aims to preserve. The word ‘Jelosimi’ is coined from the unconventional pre-school tradition where young children were first introduced to reading and writing before primary education. No doubt, this tradition has fast eroded with the proliferation of private schools where use of slates no longer exists. Back to the slates, the artist heightens the aesthetic appeal with the fusion of colours, cultural motifs such as outposts and tribal marks as well as the Yoruba alphabets, some of them were arranged to create paintings seen in series like ‘Heritage’ made up of 30 framed slates. Additionally, ‘Oriki,’ ‘Owe,’ as well as ‘Igi,’ ‘Olobe’ and ‘Ijapa’ are some of Sobayo’s works that embody wisdom. For instance, “Ogede’’ from the proverb series called ‘Owe’ draws upon the adage which states that “Ogede baje, e lo n pon; omo se nobi, e loun se gbajumo” which loosely means justifying bad behavior with sentiments. This could have been occasioned by allowing western or personal ideologies becloud our moral judgment.

“That work is very deep in the sense that I relate it to what is happening in our society,’’ Sobayo said. “Things are getting bad but we are taking it as civilization. Before, it was easy to correct someone’s child but now you dare not do it. Also, we saw betting as gambling but now we give justification for betting that it is just a game.’’

Sobayo also bemoaned the stigma against tribal marks and its erroneous association with naivety.

In his installation series called ‘Kolo,’ he repurposed tins to make metallic statements about archiving. In his childhood years, he was taught the values of saving. Each metal box symbolizes the audio documentation of persons. Sobayo encourages his audience to record voices of their aging parents, family and friends for archival purpose. The boxes could also be used to save folklores, myths and fables.

Born and raised in Oshodi, Sobayo had his unique cultural orientation from his parents who hail from Abeokuta.

“My grandmother at some point was brought to live with us and spent her last years with us. That experience had some impact on me. My father also loves speaking in adages,’’ he recounted. His father who had several trades inculcated discipline and hard work in Sobayo at an early age which manifested during his school days at Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH).

“When I was in year two at YABATECH, I started a fashion outfit, participated in fashion shows. I cultivated my interest in fashion as a means to support my education. I won the second best designer at the Nigerian fashion show 2006. I represented Nigeria at international fairs. I was quite active in school politics. I was the member of the bar in the student union during my OND but by the time I started my HND, I had formed my company; sewing clothes for top celebrities like Lagbaja, Ayuba and 9ice. I was shuttling between school and my business so I couldn’t do much unionism,’’ he recalled as one of the pioneers of Afro-centric wears.

In 2011, he delved into politics and became a Councillor. It was like a dream come true for his parents especially his father who bankrolled his campaign. Sadly, his father died just about a month into his political career.

“I did a borehole somewhere in Oshodi in memory of my dad. I was there till 2014 under Alliance for Democracy. There was a lot of conflict of interests; I was in politics but I wasn’t fulfilled. I was missing out. I was going to art shows and having regrets,’’ he said. One of the factors for disconnecting with the art scene was poor gallery-artist relationship.

Still, he was committed to the arts. Even as a politician, he painted every day. By the end of his tenure in 2014, he had more than enough works for an exhibition.

“In 2015, I did my first solo exhibition called ‘Politics, Art and Fashion’ at the Red Door Gallery, Victoria Island. It was a successful outing though I didn’t sell any work. But there were post-exhibition sales. I did another one in 2016 at Terra Kulture with over 100 masks of Fela, his mother and the Kalakuta Queens called Echoes,’’ he revealed. The show was largely inspired by Fela’s African worldview, social consciousness, values and courage.

Touched by a growing army of unemployed youths in his community, he decided to create a centre where children taken from the streets could be mentored through a series of art workshops, book readings, performing arts and more. This is the story of how a formerly abandoned property turned into a facility for societal reform through arts. Upon his return from an art residency in Thailand, he started working on the project with personal funds and loans. He felt a sense of obligation to the community when he observed that many out-of-school-children engage in heavy drinking and smoking at early hours of the day. He could sense the looming danger.

Sobayo is also famed for several commissioned projects in public spaces including the iconic canoes at the popular Ile Zik which displays names of local governments and their maps to project the spirit of communalism. The pieces rest on the history of Lagos- a city which had fishermen as its first settlers. However, his most controversial work remains the headless Fela statue that was first positioned at Allen Roundabout before its relocation to Opebi roundabout. While the imposing monument attests to Fela’s persona as a nonconformist, some still argued that the headless figure dishonours the memory of the Afrobeat pioneer. But Sobayo had strong reasons for such artistic expression.

“It was my own interpretation based on an extensive research on Fela. His daughter, Yeni Kuti granted me access to Fela’s room in his former residence now known as Kalakuta museum to study his wardrobe. Don’t forget that I have that fashion thing in me. Fela’s fashion sense was exceptional as far I can tell. I was asked to submit an idea. I submitted his garment and it was approved as a monument. The work was to represent his persona. I just wanted to create something that would spark conversation. It was just a continuation of my work, I had already done his faces in masks,’’ he explained.

On this current exhibition, Sobayo revealed that the show will be taken to all the South-West states in Nigeria at prominent institutions and palaces. This show which opened in Lagos on April 3 runs till May 3.