Chesachi Hani-Okoroafor: Charting the Next Frontier in Contemporary African Art
Interview
Chesachi Hani-Okoroafor, known professionally as SACHI is a British-based Nigerian artist. He is the Curator and Artistic Director of Prodigies of Africa whose exhibition titled ‘Infiltration of the Blues’ opens 17th to 30th September at the African Artists’ Foundation Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos. SACHI 24, who holds a First Class degree in Fine Art talks to Nduka Nwosu about his arts
What is the essence of SACHI as an artist?
I believe that my ethos as an artist is using art as the medium for my biography, taking aspects of all the things I’m interested in at any specific period in my life as well as any moments or memories that I capture, and immortalising them in the art. Using my life and interests in my art, helps me assign value to my memories.
What is your perception of African Art?
I don’t like how the global definition of ‘African Art’ seems to revolve around tribal and native patterns. As an African artist I have never related to or dabbled in that ‘theme’ of art, and never quite understood why it has endured through the decades. In my opinion, the abstractions in many African collections are often stronger and more unique that the literal ‘African’ pieces. These abstractions are doubly powerful because they still feel “African” due to their palette, but in addition, their composition and application don’t feel confined to any geographical location. I prefer to define ‘African Art’ simply as “art produced by an artist of recognised or recognisable African decent”. Picasso is well known to have used tribal African masks as muse in his cubist works, but I don’t believe anyone would define ‘Guernica’ as ‘African Art’.
How would you approach the unique challenges of young African artists?
One challenge that I can identify with is my work being considered as not ‘African’ enough. My problem is not being able to identify what I would need to do to change that perception. Would it be a change in my own style or a question of sticking to my guns and creating enough work that the global narrative is forced to change? Being thrown into the category of ‘diaspora artist’ is a slight issue for me. But fortunately, an increasing number of African artists are veering away from the stereotypical tribal and native representations of masks, pottery, textiles and other symbolisms of African-ness.
What is your vision for Prodigies of Africa?
With Prodigies of Africa, we are trying to provide opportunities for African artists at all stages of their respective careers, through which they would be able to explore themselves via multiple artistic methods of expression. Whether it be painting, sculpture, film, photography or even performance arts, our organization aims to provide the African artists with access to a global audience. Conversely, we also aspire to open a viable route back ‘home’ for African artists in the diaspora who wish to do more art in, and build a deeper connection with their native lands and cultures.
Can you define the ‘Infiltration Of The Blues’ as an Art Collection?
The colour blue is something that I am not only obsessed with, but feel a deep connection to, and therefore cannot avoid. A peak moment in my exploration was the creation of my own blue. A pure and complete abstract self-portrait. Absent of likeness or figure but still presenting identification. A lot of my work has been blue since then, culminating in my dedicating an entire exhibition to it, celebrating and analysing how the colour has infiltrated my life in the last year. Blue as a ‘Captor’, a ‘Counsellor’, a ‘Healer,‘ and at times a ‘Concealer’.
Outside of the ‘pigment bias’, limiting the colour palette an artist can use, and analysing how doing so can influence an artist’s decision-making process, is a research narrative that I’m interested in exploring in depth. I feel really privileged that such an eclectic team of Nigerian artists have joined me on this journey. I am extremely proud that our team members are among the most vibrant talents in Nigeria. All fifteen of us are using the exhibition as an opportunity to study the impact of monochromatic constraints on an artistic practice and the artists’ perceptions of their own work and art as a whole.
How much of authenticity are we still discussing regarding contemporary African art?
I believe sometimes there isn’t enough focus on making art to be an original of yourself. The copy-cut-paste and share era of information has made it even more pivotal for an artist to be an individual, very unique about how they choose to express themselves artistically. Forcing yourself to remain inspired, and respectfully referencing in full at every chance you get without being influenced as a mere follower. I’ve found that making art from primary sources and only those secondary sources that I have collected and have a primary level passion for, has been the best recipe for satisfaction in my work. Satisfaction as a result of remaining true to self, is a dragon worth chasing. Accolades, social recognition, respect and other forms of currency are merely the residuals of success. I believe that should be the order of focus for an artist, and that is how I’m approaching my practice. It isn’t easy, but I believe that it will pay off.
How does your work cross-pollinate between African and Global Art?
Humanity has a lot more in common than it has differences. Being different and being unique should not be mutually exclusive. For instance, the number 3 and the number 9 are unique numbers, but they are still both numbers, and there are still connections that can be made between them. A Caucasian child brought up in Nigeria would grow up behaving like a Nigerian regardless of his skin colour. The same goes for acquiring cultures and traditions; these are just matters of natural or evolutionary adaptation. Cross-pollination is a fact of the evolving global society. In most fields and now through social media, artists are not handicapped by their physical location in the way that they would have been even 20 years ago. There is the unfortunate possibility of this ease of access spurring an unhealthy commercialisation of art. In my view, trying to be who you are not as an artist, is ultimately futile, and should therefore be avoided. I try my hardest to focus on first establishing what my ‘thing’ is or what my ‘things’ are; and then doing all I can to produce the best examples of those things.
What opportunities are possible for your generation of artists in the digital age?
In the past, visibility as an artist relied a lot on intermediaries. But the digital era has brought with it a different mindset and perception of art. Social media has given artists the opportunity to publish and actively update their visual portfolio and theme of practice, using their timeline as a highlight reel, a mood board or even a digital billboard at times. People don’t even need to commit to being a fan of your work through a ‘follow’ and can still not only be introduced to you but comment on what they see publicly. The feedback on your work is more dynamic now. Being able to speak to a possible client or collaborator directly either in private messages or through video meetings, allows intimacy to be established and retained despite time zone and location differences. It’s a great addition to the art when utilised appropriately.
What about the impact of artificial Intelligence on art?
I don’t think AI can do much harm to Art. The impact will be positive as long as AI isn’t abused and used as too much of a crutch. Technology has always been used to aid the production process for paintings whether it is using a projector to cut down the prep time for a canvas or as basic as using rulers and protractors for “perfect” lines and curves. The key issues are honesty and signature. The more work the AI does the harder it becomes to put only your own name on the artwork. Being specific about your role as the “human artist” in the piece, is therefore very important; that is, not calling anything a painting if there isn’t any paint present. Being painterly and being a painting are not the same. It’s just like comparing the photograph of a painting concept with a finished canvas piece photographed in location and cropped to size. The transparency in process must remain intact and consistent throughout someone’s art practice. If that is achieved then I feel like AI, at least in art, won’t be more than a constantly evolving technological aid.
Can you lead us into your other modes of artistic expression?
Music has always been a very important muse in my practice; songs have been directly referenced in many of my paintings. The goal is to find an indistinguishable connection between sound and colour. A connection that can be mapped and charted. Using work from Mondrian and Kandinsky as reference in research on the synesthesia and chromesthesia phenomena, I have been trying to devise a code and scale that would allow a painting to be played like sheet music or even evoke a sound solely through visual contact (in the way that you can guess the sound of something you recognise just by looking at the image). It would also be interesting to do the reverse where a soundscape could be scored that created a specific colourscape or image in the mind’s eye of the listener, without any visual cues. Also, working with clay was a whole new challenge and definitely more of a challenge than I was expecting it to be. Texturally, I like clay as a medium especially considering the numerous stages the material goes through before it rests and the effect that can have on the chosen ‘finish line’ of the piece. I would like to find a series where it makes sense to include clay, and use that as a reason to document my learning process in depth as I have been doing with my paintings.
How do you combine your roles as an artist, curator and art entrepreneur?
In my opinion, the best way to balance the three roles is to assume three different personalities and mindsets when working on a task. I see the artist as the free idealist, trying anything and everything. Pure and cathartic. No expendable boundaries. Allowing all to pass through and being but a filter; with no shortage of ideas. The artist keeps the Curator busy.
The curator for his part, manages the files, putting them in folders and clearing space when necessary. Letting files die gracefully or recovering them in new folders, updated and renamed. The curator is the director; the conductor of the orchestra. He decides what will get left on the cutting room floor; what will get archived just in case; what is worth collecting resources for; which folder is the most layered? The Entrepreneur is the chief executive, the final boss. All resources have value. Time. Money. Space. The Entrepreneur takes the most layered and complete folders from the curator and applies the efficiency filter. Doing more with less and doing less for more gain. How do these folders become beneficial? It’s often hard to wear these three caps jointly. But I’ve been told that ‘practice makes perfect’!
How exciting is your collaborations with other artists?
I enjoy collaboration. It excites me when I meet an artist that has a style that I like, as well as a style that I feel compliments my own. Like a drummer finding their pianist. Harmony as opposed to synchrony. I must admit, however, that there could be dissonance between the hopes and dreams of the relevant parties. Or even worse, situations where there is misunderstanding of the overall expectation from the partnership.
