Chike C. Aniakor (born 1939) is a Nigerian artist, art historian, author, and poet whose work addresses philosophical, political, and religious themes relating to Igbo society and the Nigerian Civil War. [1] His artworks are held in major metropolitan museums including the Smithsonian Institution, Nigerian National Gallery of Art, and the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Frankfurt. Aniakor is a prolific writer and has authored over 75 books and articles.
Chike Cyril Aniakor was born in Abatete, Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria on August 21, 1939. [2] His mother was a practicing Uli artist; an art style deriving from Igbo culture. [2] His early exposure to Igbo traditions fostered his interest in their dance, art, ritual, and architectural styles. [3]
Chike C. Aniakor attended the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State (renamed Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria) from 1960 to 1964 where he received his bachelor's degree in painting. [2] He did his graduate work at Indiana University, Bloomington where he received a masters (1974) and doctorate (1978) in art history. [4] During his time at the Indiana University, his paintings and poetry were displayed at numerous art shows, granting him public recognition and academic fellowship including the Rockefeller Award. [5] After graduation, he would teach at Southern University in New Orleans, UCLA, and Howard University. [2]
Since the 1970s, he has taught art and art history at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State, Nigeria where he became a founding a member of the Nsukka group, which was later widely known for their use of the Uli art style. He was also the founder of the university's art department, which was commended for their virtuosity scholars and students as well as showcasing their artists to the international art scene. [6]
From 1965 to 1971, Aniakor began his teaching career at the Community Secondary School, Nnobi. [4] He spent his time educating his students on Igbo art in particular as the overall culture was the beginning motivator for Aniakor's own artworks. Igbo's community was located East of the Niger River. Aniakor saw art stemming from the location as one that needed scrutiny in order to make statements regarding its artistic development, which lead to the location becoming the setting for his later fieldwork studies. [7]
Along with the fundamentals of art, he guided students on how to take inspiration from Igbo artistic tradition as his personal work mainly contained of Igbo symbols, imageries, and techniques of elaborate surface decoration. [8] He educated students on the criteria to evaluate art specifically from the culture as well as the Igbo sense of pride and connection to their ancestry. [8] In addition, he helped train students to understand Uli art ideology, painting, and history by exhibiting modern intellectualism towards the subject. [5] [9] From 1968 to 1969, he worked as an art editor at the Ministry of Information, Enugu, Nigeria. [4] He continued his teachings at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1970.
Aniakor developed the Nsukka Art Department with other staff members who worked at the University of Nigeria with him to help expand upon Igbo stylistic range. [4] [10] During the 1970s, Nigerian artist Uche Okeke worked with Aniakor to establish the Nsukka group, an association consisting of members from the department to focus on producing and reviving Uli style of art. Aniakor was among the first Nsukka artists to develop an interest in Uli, eventually leading the group to be known for its use of the style. [11] The group practiced indigenous aesthetic preference related to Uli, which simultaneously showed their sensibility towards Igbo. They found it necessary to study these indigenous traditions as their work as contemporary artists would inevitably become multifaceted. [12] [13] The Nsukka group consisted of Tayo Adenaike, El Anatsui, Olu Oguibe, Uche Okeke, Ada Udechukwu, Obiora Udechukwu, and Aniakor himself. [14] [11]
Aniakor later became an instructor at the Southern University of New Orleans from 1978 to 1979 before returning to Nsukka. [5] His methodology on conducting data about Igbo customs during his stay in the United States consisted of interviewing other artists as well as his students. In 1984, he became a research associate at UCLA focusing on further research about Igbo arts and culture, aiming to address the modernism of Nigeria that was seen in the early twentieth century alongside ideologies of decolonization. [15]
Due to his intense study and will to understand the worldview of Igbo, Herbert Cole, a scholar at UCLA, helped co write the book ‘Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos’ with Aniakor to analyze Igbo visual culture in relation to their deities, God and goddesses, spirits, and nature. [16] [17] The book was considered an important building block to understanding African culture in the 1980s. [18] Aniakor continued his research of Igbo art history in a periodical titled Uwa ndi Igbo: Journal of Igbo Life and Culture separately from Cole. [19]
From 1986 to 1988, he returned to Nigeria once more to become the director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. [4]
From 1994 to 1995, Aniakor became a senior fellow at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where his drawings put on view his Igbo roots. In 1996, he worked at the African Studies Centre of Howard University in Washington DC, holding fellowship in oral literature within the studies. [2] He contributed to the development of organizations such as the Society of Nigerian Artists and the International Society for Education. [20] He returned to the University of Nigeria in 1995, leading up to his retirement in 2005. [5]
Currently residing in Calabar, Nigeria, his artwork and writings were featured in both international and local magazines and journals as he has published various works through different media forms. [5] Aniakor uses his social experiences as a form of communication, self-expression, and favored diversity as a means to express his beliefs towards humanity. [5] Currently, Aniakor is a professor at the University of Cross River State.
Aniakor aimed to reinvent the Uli art style since he rejected traditional European art forms. Traditionally, Uli consisted of geometric shapes, symbols, motifs, and patterns, using plants and other materials derived from earth to decorate walls and bodies, usually during ceremonies. [11]
Aniakor wanted to better understand Uli's connection to traditional African expression in order to create new creative idioms within artwork. [7] He studied how to use those newly found idioms in a contemporary environment, aiming to create a movement that favored linearity and spatial design. [21] [22] Spatial design, in terms of organizing space, was crucial in Igbo culture as it was a form of symbolism. [23] The design indicated their achievements even when faced with space constraint as achievement was their most important element of sociocultural value. [24] In the context of artwork, the design helped with stylistic interpretation of works with symbolism translating to vitality, triumph, and their experience of life. [25] [24]
The driving force behind his effort to transform Uli was the concept of a historical reconstruction. He provided awareness of the elements used within Uli motifs, which he saw as dialogical to the negative space surrounding it in his works, as well as Nigerian cultural history beyond rituality to construct conceptual considerations. [22] [15] He did so by using ethnographic teaching combined with visual arts. [24]
He further aimed to transform Uli into one of both social landscape as well as spirituality involving the cosmos, exploring that facet within Igbo society by combining celestial images and his own imagery. This included presenting human values onto spiritual entities, demonstrating the reciprocity between man and nature. [16]
Rhythms of New Life (2001) consisted of pen, ink, and watercolor on paper measuring 70 cm by 50 cm (27 x 19 in). [24] The drawing displays a variety of textured, flickering lines, translating to the anxiety of daily life. With floral-like curves, linear texture mixed with mass form was frequently combined in Aniakor's work to achieve rhythm. Curvilinear linework was a staple in Uli art as Aniakor wrote that it was element that made artworks most visually appealing to the eye. [24] Contoured patterns were favored to fill any empty space to help move the eye along the piece. [21] Aniakor's practice of these elements suggested his sense of community and reverence to the Igbo artistic space.[ citation needed ]
Aniakor's connection to Igbo culture was found to explain the figures he used within his own artwork. Congregated figures helped form archetypal visual images that he found defined the Igbo community, as he held the belief that in Igbo culture no individual was isolated in their struggle. Using this notion, he has been able to curate works that describe the struggle and collective despair those in the community felt while experiencing displacement during the Biafran War alongside his own perspective and narrative of the war from his personal experience. [24] [26] The war affected Igbo artists as problems including endemic corruption and political hegemony were new experiences for them. Issues of military control in Nigeria continue to be a sensitive subject for Igbo artists, with their work being a response to the disappointments they endured. [3]
Civil strife was the main theme within Aniakors personal work concerning the Nigerian-Biafran war, with focus brought to the act of social unrest in the Igbo community at the time. [24] Using bold lines, optical illusions, linear contours, and negative space he aimed to create a sensation of movement to depict messages of people physically moving away from troubled zones. These were symbolic of the fear the Igbo community felt at the time, and how the use of rhythm indicated Aniakor's understanding of how war and movement work together as a design structure within artworks.
Descent of the Falcon (1993) was executed using line etching on paper measuring 70 cm by 50 cm (27 x 19 in). [24] The piece depicts a falcon hovering over a crowd of people gathered together with worried expressions upon their faces. His use of mask like features for the faces played a role in representing the masks used especially among the Igbo as well as masks used in other African societies. [11] He often made use of negative space by drawing his human figures with elongated, stretched out bodies. [27] [1]
Using the metaphor of a beast-prey relationship, the drawing describes the relationship between the government and the people of Nigeria during the height of the military junta. [24] The falcon, representing Biafran in this piece, is seen metaphorically swooping down towards the people of Nigeria as their prey, imparting what they felt was disharmony upon their life. The use of crowded figures aimed to tell the story of despair that people endured under military authority, using this as a method to communicate Aniakor's own personal and political statements.[ citation needed ]
Aniakor's work from 1970 to 2000 continued to represent the relationship that the Igbo community had to Nigerian military regimes as they simultaneously captured the socioeconomic state of Nigeria at the time. [24] Using images of aggregation and spatial design helped translate his concerns of the constant conflict implemented between military junta and the Nigerian masses, demonstrating an imbalanced system.[ citation needed ]
Seasonal Ritual (1990) was created using pen, ink, and watercolor on paper measuring 70 cm by 50 cm (27 x 19 in). [24] The piece displays a circle of people connected to a smaller group of people in the center. The center symbolizes community, how it connects to Aniakor's creativity, and how it plays a role in everyday society.[ citation needed ]
This piece is also representative of political views Aniakor held in regard to the Igbo community. In Seasonal Ritual, the center creates movement to those connected to it. To Aniakor, it can either represent guiding the masses towards mobilization against an enemy or executing a disorderly plan with undetermined consequences. [24]
Aniakor currently has a small body of freeverse poetry mainly released in the United States, Europe, and Nigeria. [3] His poetry aimed to illustrate the meaning behind his drawings as he held the viewpoint that written vocabulary is just as important in getting his artistic message across. [5] Juxtaposed to his paintings, he frequently used African motifs and symbolic figures to represent African communication styles as well as the African nature of obedience. His poetry addresses Igbo life, experiences, and the nostalgia he felt towards his time spent there. [3] Historical development and stylistic analysis were two additional things that shaped Aniakors writings, frequently labeling his poetry as visual epitaphs. [20] [9]
Come to me in silence if you can, like ripples of water from yesterday’s rain.
— Chike Aniakor, In Silence I Wait
Aniakor's work is held in major collections including the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art (Washington, D.C.), Asele Institute (Nimo, Anambra, Nigeria), Didi Museum (Lagos, Nigeria), Federal Ministry of Information, Cultural Division, (Lagos, Nigeria), Imago Mundi Collection (Treviso, Italy), Iwalewa House (Bayreuth, Germany), National Gallery of Art (Lagos, Nigeria), Museum fur Volkerkunde (Frankfurt, Germany), University of Nigeria, Ana Gallery, Nsukka (Enugu State, Nigeria), The Weltkulturen Museum (Frankfurt, Germany) [4]
Odinani, also known as Odinala, Omenala, Odinana, and Omenana, is the traditional cultural belief and practice of the Igbo people of south east Nigeria. These terms, as used here in the Igbo language, are synonymous with the traditional Igbo "religious system" which was not considered separate from the social norms of ancient or traditional Igbo societies. Theocratic in nature, spirituality played a huge role in their everyday lives. Although it has largely been synchronized with Catholicism, the indigenous belief system remains in strong effect among the rural, village and diaspora populations of the Igbo. Odinani can be found in Haitian Voodoo, Obeah, Santeria and even Candomblé. Odinani is a pantheistic and polytheistic faith, having a strong central deity at its head. All things spring from this deity. Although a pantheon of other gods and spirits, these being Ala, Amadiọha, Anyanwụ, Ekwensu, Ikenga, exists in the belief system, as it does in many other Traditional African religions, the lesser deities prevalent in Odinani serve as helpers or elements of Chukwu, the central deity.
Olu Oguibe is a Nigerian-born American artist and academic. Professor of Art and African-American Studies at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Oguibe is a senior fellow of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School, New York City, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He is also an art historian, art curator, and leading contributor to post-colonial theory and new information technology studies. Oguibe is also known to be a well respected scholar and historian of contemporary African and African American art and was honoured with the State of Connecticut Governor's Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement on 15 June 2013.
Uli (Uri) are the curvilinear traditional designs drawn by the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. These designs are generally abstract, consisting of linear forms and geometric shapes, though there are some representational elements. Traditionally, these are either stained onto the body or painted onto the sides of buildings as murals. Designs are frequently asymmetrical and are often painted spontaneously. Uli is generally not sacred, apart from those images painted on the walls of shrines and created in conjunction with some community rituals. In addition, uli is not directly symbolic but instead focused on the creation of a visual impact and decorating the body of the patron or building in question.
The Nsukka group is the name given to a group of Nigerian artists associated with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Tayo Adenaike is a Nigerian painter.
Obiora Udechukwu is a Nigerian painter and poet.
Christopher Uchefuna Okeke, also known as Uche Okeke, was an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and teacher. He was an art and aesthetic theorist, seminal to Nigerian modernism.
Igbo art is any piece of visual art originating from the Igbo people. The Igbo produce a wide variety of art including traditional figures, masks, artifacts and textiles, plus works in metals such as bronze. Artworks from the Igbo have been found from as early as 9th century with the bronze artifacts found at Igbo Ukwu. With processes of colonialism and the opening of Nigeria to Western influences, the vocabulary of fine art and art history came to interact with established traditions. Therefore, the term can also refer to contemporary works of art produced in response to global demands and interactions.
Igbo Americans, or Americans of Igbo ancestry, or Igbo Black Americans are residents of the United States who identify as having Igbo ancestry from modern day Nigeria. There are primarily two classes of people with Igbo ancestry in the United States, those whose ancestors were taken from Igboland as a result of the transatlantic slave trade before the 20th century and those who immigrated from the 20th century onwards partly as a result of the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s and economic instability in Nigeria. Igbo people prior to the American Civil War were brought to the United States by force from their hinterland homes on the Bight of Biafra and shipped by Europeans to North America between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Nnenna Okore is an Australian-born Nigerian artist who lives and works in Chicago at North Park University, Chicago. Her largely abstract sculptural forms are inspired by richly textured forms and colours within the natural environment. Okore's work frequently uses flotsam or discarded objects to create intricate sculptures and installations through repetitive and labor-intensive processes. She learnt some of her intricate methods, including weaving, sewing, rolling, twisting and dyeing, by watching local Nigerians perform daily domestic tasks. In her more recent works, Okore uses plant-based materials to create large bioplastic art forms and installations. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums within and outside of the United States. She has won several international awards, including a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2012. and the Australian Creative Victoria Award in 2021.
Tony Nsofor, is a Nigerian painter. His full name is Anthony Chukwudinma Richard Nsofor.
George Edozie, is a Nigerian painter. living in Lagos, Nigeria.
Marcia Kure is a Nigerian visual artist known primarily for her mixed media paintings and drawings which engage with postcolonial existentialist conditions and identities.
The Nigerian National Museum is a national museum of Nigeria, located in the city of Lagos. The museum has a notable collection of Nigerian art, including pieces of statuary, carvings also archaeological and ethnographic exhibits. Of note is a terracotta human head known as the Jemaa Head, part of the Nok culture. The piece is named after Jema'a, the village where it was discovered. The museum is located at Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos State. The museum is administered by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Jephthah Elochukwu Unaegbu is a Nigerian writer, researcher, freelance journalist, actor, and documentary film maker.
Chika Okeke-Agulu is a Nigerian artist, art historian, art curator, and blogger specializing in African and African diaspora art history. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Bruce Obomeyoma Onobrakpeya is a Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor. He has exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Malmö Konsthall in Malmö, Sweden. The National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos has an exhibit of colourful abstract canvases by Onobrakpeya and his works can be found at the Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art, although no exhibitions were showing as of October 2017.
The Institute of African Studies at University of Nigeria, Nsukka is a graduate research institution of African, peace and conflict resolution studies. It is an interdisciplinary center with previous directors of the institute coming from the fields of English, Fine Arts and History.
Uche Uzorka is a Nigerian artist. In 2011, he and Chike Obeagu won first place in Nigeria's National Art Competition. Uzorka fuses various media in his work to examine the processes of urban street culture.
The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art is a privately-owned museum located on the main campus of the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos State, Nigeria.