Mourning Two Art Luminaries 

Yinka Olatunbosun

Two recent deaths on the same day, June 25, stunned the local art community. One was that of renowned 82-year-old Nigeria’s first-generation filmmaker, documentary photographer, art curator, and writer, Tam Fiofori, and the other was that of the visual artist, Zinno Orara. 

Fiofori, who received the IREP Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in film in 2022 alongside legends like Olu Jacobs and Deji Adesanya, contributed to the 2018 book African Photographer J. A. Green: Re-imagining the Indigenous and the Colonial (edited by Martha G. Anderson and Lisa Aronson), in a review in which Lindsay Barrett referred to Fiofori as “Nigeria’s iconic photographic genius.”

Born in 1942 in the Rivers State town of Okrika to parents, who were both teachers, he had taught the likes of Ola Balogun and J.K. Randle. He was educated at the King’s College, Lagos before proceeding to the King’s College, London.

As a globetrotting writer living in Detroit and then Harlem, New York, in the 1960s, he was a friend and manager of Sun Ra, the famed American jazz composer. Fiofori would later bring the jazz musician to Lagos for the legendary FESTAC ’77 and the Kalakuta Republic, where Fela delighted festivalgoers with a spectacular nightlife experience. Fiofori also developed a friendship with American playwright and poet Amiri Baraka (previously known as LeRoi Jones).

Fiofori was the first New Music/Electronic Music Editor for DownBeat and wrote for many other art and literary publications in the US and Europe, including the International Times and Change magazine. He has been credited with being “largely responsible for bringing underground black creativity to the American national consciousness in those heady days of the 1970s.” Over the years, his writing has appeared in a variety of Nigerian publications, including the Next newspaper and the blog Shèkèrè.

Fiofori groomed his turf in filmmaking when he took a filmmaking course at the San Francisco Art Institute and worked as a filmmaker. Fiofori was a film consultant to the Rivers State Council for Arts and Culture, the director of the Rivers State Documentary Series, and a consultant and scriptwriter to the NTA Network on Documentaries. He was also the founding executive of the Photographers’ Association of Nigeria (PAN). His work has been shown in Africa, Europe, and the US, including Odum and Water Masquerades (1974), screened at FESTAC ’77, Tampere Film Festival; 10th FESPACO, Ouagadougou, 1987; Pan African Writers’ Association, Accra, Ghana; and 1979: A Peep into History and Culture. Some of his publications include A Benin Coronation: Oba Erediauwa (2011), which contains 84 pages of photography featuring about 150 original photographs, accompanied by 72 pages of text, all about the Benin City Coronation ceremonies of Oba Erediauwa as the 38th Oba of the Benin Kingdom from March 23 to 30, 1979. 

Femi Odugbemi, founder of the iREP Documentary Film Festival and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, paid a heartfelt tribute to the late photographer, Tam Fiofori. Odugbemi celebrated Fiofori as a towering figure in the documentary world, praising his remarkable legacy: “Tam Fiofori’s legacy is one of brilliance, innovation, and an unyielding spirit. He not only chronicled history but also inspired a new generation of filmmakers and photographers to pursue truth and authenticity in their work. His absence will be deeply felt, but his influence will continue to guide and inspire us.” 

As for Orara, who passed on at the age of 58, he recently partnered with another artist, Gab Awusa, for a joint show, titled Refreshing Dialogue, which was curated by Moses Ohiomokhare. 

A graduate of the School of Art and Design (Polytechnic), Auchi, he had participated in a national exhibition held in Abuja where the then military president, Ibrahim Babangida, encountered his eclectic pieces and advised him not to look for any white-collar job. That same advice came from many other people, fanning the embers of passion for the arts that he had nursed as a young child.

His works are exhibited all over Nigeria and overseas, including in South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, and the United States of America. He was married to his first wife, Adaora, who battled cancer for nine years before her demise. Orara was devoted to his children, Majiri, Chidera, Kesena, Princess, and Karisma. In the heat of trying to save his wife, he organised a charity exhibition at Mydrim Gallery in partnership with Black House Media in December 2014. He is survived by his five children and his second wife, Blessing Zinno Orara. 

In the heat of trying to save his first wife, he organised a charity exhibition at Mydrim Gallery in partnership with Black House Media in December 2014. He is survived by his five children and his second wife, Blessing Zinno Orara. 

The curator for his last show, Moses Ohiomokhare, penned a heartfelt condolence message: “He was a friend, and I am broken. We only finished his exhibition in partnership with his friend of 40 years, Gab Awusa, last month. A great soul has left the shores of this land.” 

“Zinno Orara was a long-time supporter and beloved friend of the BHM family,” said the CEO, BHM Group, Ayeni Adekunle, in his tribute. “While his eternally beautiful and inspiring works continue to adorn our homes and offices, his special talent and genius will be sorely missed by all.