ArtsFlame: Burning the Lights of African Arts to the World
As part of efforts to boost the community of Arts lovers in Akure, ArtsFlame brought together visual art enthusiasts in and around the city for an exhibition event.
The event which held at Curators Hub was focused on exhibiting creativity from the student community in a variety of styles ranging from pencil work to oil pastel, charcoal and so many more.
This comes on the heels of re-energized efforts to celebrate African Arts with the understanding that a thousand memories and stories can be hid in a frame…in a piece of art.
Agba Onome Joshua (Onomzy), Raymond Darlington Tochukwu (Dharlenez) andFasuyi Oluwatimilehiin (Timifash) also emerged 1ST, 2ND and 3rd respectively at the exhibition competition winning different range of prizes; as judges picked the best out of the works of artists who exhibited at the event.
Mary Adefisayo (Design Lead, FourthCanvas), Ikechukwu Okafor (Co-founder Neptunn) and Wole Olusola (Arts Director FrameIt) were the jury as Joshua’s pen work, Darlington’s mixed media form using paper and Oluwatimilehin’s pencil work emerged winners at the event.
In a chat with Zumalo.com, the organisers of the event, Yemi Ogunmolu and Kayode Emmanuel explained that the event is aimed at reviving the spark for the love of arts in the country. “The plan is to work towards democratising the opportunities and access to quality art works from emerging cities across the country, starting with the student community in Akure”, Yemi added.
“Also, we thought it wise that with this we could also create a pool or network of art lovers and artists that would foster the appreciation of arts in general. The youths are important in safeguarding the future on this nation and there are some things we need to preserve and revive; visual arts are one of them.”- Yemi Ogunmolu
Yemi stressed that the plan is to continue efforts aimed at entrenching the story and narratives on the importance of arts in the country; and that consistency is key in achieving this. “…we want to really cause a wave around Nigeria…wake up youths to the reality and beauty of visual arts and also to encourage younger hearts that if they delve into arts, they will be celebrated and appreciated”, he explained.
The event was well attended by leaders and players in the Akure ecosystem, Kitan David (Cofounder Planet NEST ), Joel Ogunsola (Prunedge Tech), Laide Ajanaku (Communications Lead, Tech4Dev), Blessing Timidi, Charles Adeyemi (Elizade University) and a whole lot of other amazing arts enthusiasts.
