General News
A retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Chinwe Iyizoba, has urged Nigerians to support young artists to excel to international level by encouraging and patronising their art works.
Iyizoba made the call on Sunday in Enugu while declaring open the annual Life In My City Arts Festival (LIMCAF) Art Exhibition for 2022 Enugu Region, being held at the Alliance Francaise Centre, Enugu.
The week-long LIMCAF Art Exhibition, which is themed: “Paradox of Muted Echoes,” is showcasing 65 different types of art works.
The art works include sculpture, terracotta, mixed media, paintings, charcoal drawings, photography, ceramics, oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas, fabric on card, textile, clay, etc done by young Nigerian talented artists resident in Enugu State.
Iyizoba also called on the rich and wealthy individuals in Enugu State and South-East to support the event by setting up an art endowment fund in honour of themselves or their loved ones.
She said: “I will use this opportunity to urge all rich and wealthy people in Enugu State to remember that this is a worthy venture. I urge you to make endowments for your name, family name or loved ones.”
She said that LIMCAF had given the South-East people a good opportunity to witness the art exhibition live and also encouraged the young artists to exhibit their works live in Enugu.
“The LIMCAF festival has recorded sufficient levels of feats in helping young Nigerian artists to develop and promote their skills and showcase their artistic potentials outside the country,” she said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, LIMCAF, Chief K. U. Kalu, said it would be a remarkable event for artistes in Enugu State to participate actively in showcasing their creativity during the festival.
Kalu, represented by Chief Loretta Aniagolu, said: “It is amazing that this level of creativity exists in the young artists, despite the socio-economic and political challenges in the country.
“So, many of them that won awards, have gone on to international events.
“Some of the artists have made good use of the opportunity. About 18 of them had the opportunity of flying to Dakar, Senegal for an international arts festival to showcase their works recently.”
Speaking, the Art Director of LIMCAF, Dr Ayo Adewunmi, said there were 65 entries from the Enugu region, stressing that by organising the event, the management of LIMCAF was preparing for the future as some of the young artistes were being celebrated internationally.
Adewunmi, who is a Chief Lecturer in Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, said the theme for this year’s edition, “Paradox of Muted Echoes,” suggested that things might not always be the way they are perceived.
“It also seems to suggest that sometimes, silence being a vital part of sound, may be a potent device to enable us to hear from within, but it still presents a paradox,” he said.
According to him, LIMCAF is established in 2007 and registered as a Trusteeship in 2012 under the name Life In My City Art Initiative as an annual celebration of creativity featuring young talents in the Nigerian art landscape.
One of the young artists, Uche Akabogu, whose work “Effect of Domestic Violence on Children,” (Thread on Canvas), illustrated a child in agony and lamentation watching the domestic violence in which the parents were involved.
The picture shows the awe-struck child holding her head tight, with her palms covering her ears, as if the noise created by the parents’ violence could make her head explode.
“I want parents to realise the negative impact of their in-fighting on their children. Parents should, by all means possible, avoid domestic violence especially in the presence of children,” Akabogu advised.
In another work – a giraffe bamboo wood sculpture – captioned, “Yearnings,” done by Melford Odo, showed a sculpture painted in a soft, glittering black and golden colours portraying the various dynamic changes of situations of life. (NAN)
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Tags: Chief Loretta Aniagolu Justice Chinwe Iyizoba K. U. Kalu Life In My City Arts Festival (LIMCAF)
