African Art 1

   Chinua Achebe, in his book MORNING YET ON CREATION DAY (New York:  Anchor Press? Double Day, 1975), P.29. stated that "Art is, and was always, in the service of man. Our ancestors created their myths and legends and told their stories for human purposes; they made their sculptures in Wood and Terra-cotta, Stone and Bronze to serve the needs of their times! Their artists lived and had their being in society and created their works for the good of the society".
   By virtue of our thoughts and imagination, great works of Art have always been produced. Under the control of artists, images are reflections of the society and the the artists opinion and thoughts
   In the not too distant past, folklore and traditional African Art have been intergrated into every day life, functioning as indicators for social, political, religious and economic beliefs and concerns, interweaving the philosopical and spiritual frame work of tradition and culture.
   African Art has exhibited a continuity which has survived till date, though conditions are varying in present day Africa;- materials, theme/subject matter , patronage etc- the works of  African artists reflect the past. they belong to the same artistic continuum in African Art which treat  forms as symbols or aggregation
symbols and relate forms to metaphysics.
   African Art is interwoven with every day life in ways very different from Western Art. Religious beliefs and cultural ideals find artistic expression not only in ancestral figures, fetish objects, ritual/worship objects and masks, which are created primarily for ceremonial or ritual purposes; but also as practical/personal objects for day to day existence.
   These Art objects gives the people a sense of order to the diversity and complexity of day to day life. There's no where else in that the interplay between Art and personal objects is more prevalent than in African society - which may be responsible for the fact that Art is taken for granted in African societies.

 Nsibidi was a means of communication around Cross River, Ekoi, Igbo, and Ibibio areas South-East Nigeria and the Camerouns.
 Nsibidi was a mysterious and closely guarded secret script used by the rich powerful and influential men in Ekpe secret society in these areas.
 It was employed in the form of pictograms and symbols. Nsibidi is akin to the heiroglyphics of ancient Egypt or Chinese ideograph. Nsibidi was in three forms, the first were not really secret or mystical they were common signs representing human affairs, relationships and communication. The second were more or less representing danger, extremities- they were dark signs. The third type were the very important signs and symbols of rank and rituals which were closely guarded secrets known only to initiates and their priests
 Nsibidi scripts is seen on tomb stones of members, walls of Ekpe society buildings, carved on calabashes, drawn on ritual objects, costumes and textiles, on the ground, tattooed on the body. Today, Nsibidi is known as Anaforuana and still practiced by Abakua secret society members among black Cubans. These are descendant of Nigerians and Camerounian slaves who went there with the secret.
  The development of this means of expression and decoration was hampered by colonialism and western religion. It has been the desire of many modern artist especially those of Nsukka Art School (who have work extensivly to dicpher Uli body decoration among the Igbos) to unearth the riches of this ancient human endeavour. Tony Nwachukwu, and late Okpu Eze.A before him and many others have worked hard at studying this indegenous means of writing.
 Their works of art are made after the Nsibidi tradition. The trained eyes will read proverbs, folklore out of the works, while the untrained eyes will be thrilled by the intricate use of lines colours and forms.

The paintings:1) untitled batik work, 2) an untitled acrylic work by Tony Nwachukwu using Nsibidi scripts  (call 2348035528317)

painting

painting

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