Dare Herald: Visual Art Promotes, Preserves Our Cultural Heritage

Kokopelli International, an organisation which capitalises on intentional storytelling as an intervention across the globe, is set for “Parallel Passages”, a group exhibition featuring indigenous Nigerian artists. Set to be held at the Kokopelli Gallery, Ikoyi Lagos, from November 25 to December 23, 2023,  the gallery’s Director, Dare Herald who maintains that visual art promotes and preserves cultural heritage, in this interview with MARY NNAH says the exhibition, curated to facilitate the discourse of comparisons between connecting stories will have Nigerian Artists who have mastered the Art of storytelling and work across mediums to tell true or fictional stories that would spark conversations and also cause a revelation

What role does visual art play in the Nigerian economy?

Visual Art contributes to the growth of the Nigerian economy in many ways. I’d start with tourism, cities with vibrant Art scenes like Lagos, Benin and the like often attract visitors which has a ripple effect on the economy.

Visual Art maintains our cultural heritage, promoting and most importantly preserving it, which enhances national and regional identity.

Also concerning education and innovation generally, visual art has contributed a lot to the Nigerian economy in that regard. It is also a significant part of the creative industries, contributing to design, entertainment, advertising and a whole lot more. These industries generate economic value and employment opportunities.

What is your gallery doing to encourage young artists and also to sustain

the existing one? 

We have some intervention programmes for emerging artists who may find it challenging to carve their voices and niches. We’ve crafted a system by which we can showcase their works to local and international audiences. And to sustain the existing ones, we always stretch out our hand in collaborations and partnerships, we simply design programs they individually fit into and approach them.

How would you rate the works of Nigerian artists compared to global

artists and their works?

Art is global, the principles are universal and to evaluate works of art is very subjective. It has to do with cultural vantage points, individual predilection, historical setting and exclusive references. Nigerian artists and artists in other parts of the world could approach art from different perspectives in the global art scene.

Comparing Nigerian artists to other artists around the world would involve acknowledging the variation in influences, themes, styles and experiences across regions. Artistic prowess is not by geographical boundaries, and the beauty of it on the scale of the global art community is the diversity.

So I’d rather not compare or rate against, but validate the global diversity of artistic voices which allows for a boost in the perspective on the world of art.

What do you think the Nigerian government should do to ensure that the talents and work of artists are sustained? 

The Nigerian government should Invest in Art education: scholarships, workshops and the like.

Also, funding programs to support artists, residencies and exhibitions.

Nigeria needs more museums and public galleries, gosh! I can’t stress that enough. The government also need to protect intellectual properties and strengthen the laws guiding copyright.

Lastly, one of the most important things would be to promote cultural festivals. The government needs to showcase our heritage and tell our own stories. They need to employ people who know what they are doing to handle the different sectors that relate to art, culture and tourism to avoid having to tell the stories of foreign lands through the wrong channels as seen in the National Museum of Art in Lagos, which the park has been hijacked by the USA embassy, telling their stories.

As someone who has had the opportunity to relate with Nigerian visual artists, what will you say have been their major challenges? 

High cost of materials: Art supplies have become alarmingly expensive. A lot of these artists can’t afford to buy these materials because of many factors, dollar rate, not being able to sell and more.

Lack of direction: a lot of them also don’t know what direction to take with their works, how to attract collectors and how to get into galleries. You’d find quite a number of them just trying everything out, for example, the advent of the black-art rave.

Copyright infringement: for established artists, a lot of times you find that their works have been replicated by others and this can be a source of discouragement Income security is, a steady source of income. As odd as it sounds, the market is getting highly saturated and a lot of these artists don’t make enough money to get by.

What are the plans for the Kokopelli Gallery?

More of our themed exhibitions, we want to create more of these experiences and imprint in the heart of our target audience what we stand for.

Representing more artists who align with the goals of the gallery’s Educational programmes and Artist residencies for example we have the OUT (Once Upon a Time) Convention and Residency where artists are going to be exposed to more materials and information needed to carve their niche and be more intentional about their callings for collaboration with Brands that align with the vision of the gallery and also more Interactive installations.

Tell us a bit about the forthcoming exhibition tagged, “Parallel Passages”

and why Kokopelli Gallery has chosen to be part of this exhibition.

The Parallel Passages Exhibition has been curated to facilitate the discourse of comparisons between connecting stories and we seek to amplify the concept of typologies. Typologies are known for organising and understanding different types or patterns within a specific context in various fields even as psychology, anthropology and theology.

In this not-so-usual exhibition, we will be having 8 Nigerian Artists who have mastered the Art of storytelling as is our culture in Kokopelli, 8 artists who work across mediums from painting to mixed media to sculpture and more to tell true or fictional stories that  would spark conversations and also cause a revelation

What informed the theme, Parallel Passages?

Well, it’s more like an exegesis of typologies. In any literary work, parallel passages are those that mirror each other in content, structure, or meaning, giving breadth of view and foresight into the author’s intentions or highlighting its key concepts, and because we are curating the exhibition to explore the topic of identification of common traits or patterns and the exercise of connecting the dots.

What informed the choice of the artists that make up this group exhibition?

Well, as I said earlier, we always look out for Artists who have mastered the Art of storytelling as is our culture in Kokopelli4. Who are your target audience? Art lovers, enthusiasts, collectors, stakeholders, students, tourists and the like.

Quote

Visual Art contributes to the growth of the Nigerian economy in many ways. I’d start with tourism, cities with vibrant Art scenes like Lagos, Benin and the like often attract visitors which has a ripple effect on the economy. Visual Art maintains our cultural heritage, promoting and most importantly preserving it, which enhances national and regional identity