Odili Donald Odita's Princeton University Mural

Last month the Nigerian-American artist Odili Donald Odita joined an elite list of artists--which includes Richard Serra, Sol Lewitt, and Scott Burton--commissioned by Princeton University to create public art on campus. Odita's work, Up and Away, a vast mural spanning two floors and seven walls, in the newly built Butler College, is impressive, visually stunning. The effervescent color and dramatic geometry of the mural provides a matching counterpoint to the quiet grandeur of the brick structure characterized by rhythmic, undulating exterior wall. Each time I encounter this mural as I enter this building, where thankfully my fall seminar class meets once a week, the sensation is close to what might happen if you let loose a group twirling Yoruba Gelede masks (and their musical accompaniment) inside auditorium of a senate building!

The artist will be speaking about the Up and Away at the Princeton University Art Museum on October 9.

Here are some of the before..






During...

Odita (right) with Assistant


Assistants working on the drawing









Vanishing the Mural




Views of the final wall installation:









Odita talks about Up and Away October 10, 2009:



Odita with James Steward, Director, Princeton University Art Museum at the artist lecture, October 10, 2009

"Life Objects" at the Princeton University Art Museum

Areogun, 1885-1954, Yorùbá, Osi-Ilorin, Ekiti state, Nigeria, Maternity figure, early 20th century. Wood and pigment h. 66 cm., w. 30.5 cm., d. 39.4 cm. (26 x 12 x 15 1/2 in.) Collection of J. Thomas Lewis, Class of 1959, and Mrs. Lewis (photo: Charles Davis)

So yesterday, my exhibition called Life Objects: Art and the Lifecycle in Africa opened at the Princeton University Art Museum. Co-organized with Holly Ross, an independent scholar, and fabulously designed by Alan Knezevich, this is one very beautiful exhibition of which I am so proud. All the works on show, which includes many really fine examples of African sculpture, and early 20th-century postcards showing objects similar to the ones on show in their cultural contexts, are available online. Several came from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art (including the glorious Nkanu Initiation panel the never leaves the NMAfA!) and others from important private collections, and a couple from Princeton's collection. If you can't come to Princeton, the only thing you will miss, which is crucial though, is the tropical morning-haze, ambient color of the gallery space, and Alan's design! The exhibition runs till January 10, 2010.

Check out the online show at:
http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/collections/online_exhibits/Life_Objects/index3.xml

Contemporary African Art Roundtable

I am convening a roundtable of art historians--many of the heavyweights in the field--to discuss the state of the scholarship in Contemporary African Art. This is part of a series for the journal I co-edit, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. But it is also to mark an important milestone for our journal. From spring 2010, it will become a member of the Duke University Press family of journals; hasn't Nka come a long way, since 1994 inaugural issue?!

What is even more exciting is you don't have to wait for the print version of Nka to read about the roundtable, because it will be--is being--published on the Duke University Press blog. So you all are invited to visit the blog. We welcome comments or questions some of which could be presented to the panel for response.

Here is the list of panelists:
Okwui Enwezor (San Francisco Art Institute), Elizabeth Harney (University of Toronto), Salah Hassan (Cornell University), dele jegede (Miami University, Ohio), Sidney Kasfir (Emory University), Dominique Malaquais (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris), Steven Nelson (UCLA), Ikem Stanley Okoye (University of Delaware), John Peffer (Ramapo College), John Picton (Emeritus, SOAS), Peter Probst (Tufts University), Colin Richards (University of Witwatersrand), Frank Ugiomoh (University of Port Harcourt), Susan Vogel (Columbia University), Jessica Winegar (Northwestern University).

SOS: UCLA Arts Library!

I read this distressing note about the impending closure of the famed Art Library at the UCLA by the authorities. Please read and circulate this signature drive,
Chika
===============================================================================
Dear friends,

Another arts institution has been targeted for elimination. In an attempt to
cut costs during the recession, UCLA has decided to shutter its
long-standing Arts Library‹permanently.

Please consider signing the following petition. Please circulate it widely.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-ucla-arts-library

We have also created a Facebook group you may join in solidarity or support:

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=132785048409&ref=nf

Here is the text of our petition and a short explanation of the current
situation:

UCLA Library Management, behind closed doors and without consultation with
the UCLA community, has decided to close its Arts Library, potentially as
soon as January 2010.

For decades, the Arts Library has served faculty, students and the Southern
California community as an essential cultural resource. In terms of research
and scholarship it supports some of the nation's best programs in the arts,
architecture, art history, film, television, theater and the humanities.
With over 270,000 volumes and unique collections, the Arts Library is a
singular institution in Los Angeles, a burgeoning center for the arts. It
must be preserved.

We understand that the UCLA Library must meet a nearly $2 million shortfall.
However, the permanent elimination of an critical UCLA institution must not
be the solution to a short term budget crisis.

SOS: Homeless Children and the Terror of Evangelist Helen Ukpabio

When many in her position would be spending their vast wealth to give shelter, medical care and access to education to children abandoned by their parents, this "Evangelist" Helen Ukpabio, it seems, is hell-bent (no pun intended) to stop anyone providing any assistance to these children, just because she wants to protect her religious business, which thrives on victimization of impoverished children in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria. This is outrageous, unconscionable, immoral and utterly despicable. Is there no one in the Nigerian government to stand up for these children? To stop this woman and the apparently compromised local police?


Here below is a press statement on the current travails of the homeless children of Akwa-Ibom State, and the Child Rights And Rehabilitation Network (CRARN).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Sun, Jul 5, 2009 8:27 pm
POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST CRARN STAFF AND CHILDREN: URGENT ACTION NEEDED
From: gary@steppingstones nigeria.org
To: info@steppingstones nigeria.org

Dear Friends,
On the afternoon of Friday 3rd July, a group of men appeared at the CRARN children's centre in Eket, Akwa Ibom State claiming to be donors wanting to donate goods to the children. Suspicious of these men, the CRARN President, Sam Itauma hid away in his home. The group of men, who by now were claiming to be police officers from Lagos, then moved to Sam's house and demanded that Sam give himself up. Fearing for his life, Sam escaped through the ceiling and ran off into the bush where he has been in hiding for the previous two days.

The police officers then broke into Sam's house and seized his computer, camera, personal items and a number of documents from his office. They then subsequently beat and wounded a number of the CRARN children who were protesting against Sam's "arrest". Two children were beaten unconscious and are now undergoing emergency medical treatment in hospital. In addition to these gross violations of human rights, the police also unlawfully arrested Sam's wife, Elizabeth and another CRARN staff member, Eseme and took them to Eket Police station where they were held, without charge, for over 24 hours before being freed on bail.

It has since become apparent that the police were accompanied by a lawyer from Lagos, Mr Victor Ukott. This is the same lawyer who has been representing Evangelist Helen Ukpabio in the law suits that she has filed against CRARN, Stepping Stones Nigeria, Channel Four, Mags Gavan and Sophie Okonedo since the broadcast of the internationally acclaimed documentary film - Saving Africa's Witch Children. The lawyer and police are claiming that Sam and other CRARN staff must travel with them to Lagos to face charges of fraud, which have been levelled against them
(presumably by Helen Ukpabio). These trumped-up charges apparently relate to a petition filed in Lagos claiming that Sam and CRARN have been defrauding international donors of millions of dollars: claims that are clearly false.

It would seem that the vicious beatings of innocent children and unlawful arrests of CRARN staff are part of a wider campaign of intimidation that is being carried out against CRARN and their supporters. This is obviously of great concern to all of us here at Stepping Stones Nigeria and we are particularly worried about the threat to the lives of Sam Itauma and all CRARN staff and children. As such we are contacting you to request for your help with this case. We need to make the world aware of what is happening in Nigeria and place pressure on the Akwa Ibom State Government, police force and legislature to do everything in their power to protect the lives of these
innocent children and the brave people who are prepared to stand up and fight for the rights of some of the world's most vulnerable children.

Tomorrow outside the Eket Police station, the CRARN children will be demonstrating against these gross violations of their rights and those of their carers. We therefore request for full media attention to be placed on this issue and the subsequent demonstration. A formal press release outlining a clear set of demands from civil society organisations will then be issued after this event along with
details of how supporters may be able to further help the situation. Stepping Stones Nigeria condemns in the strongest terms possible this illegal and immoral campaign of terror that has been initiated against the most vulnerable group of all, children and their carers. We therefore call for you to continue your support for our work to protect these children and do everything in your power to make the world aware of what is currently happening in Akwa Ibom State. We have absolutely no doubt that the truth will prevail and that, with your continued support, we can overcome the forces of darkness that have unleashed this campaign of intimidation and terror.

Both Sam and I will be available for press interviews throughout the day. You can contact Sam on his usual number. I may be contacted on 00 234 792 309 2811 or on the office number below. With sincere thanks for your continued support for our work and the fight against child abandonment, torture and killing due to witchcraft belief.

Gary Foxcroft,
Programme Director, Stepping Stones Nigeria, 24 St Leonard's House, St Leonard's Gate, Lancaster, LA1 1NN, UK. Tel Office: 0845 3138391
www.steppingstonesnigeria.org Protecting, Saving and Transforming the Lives of Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Children In the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria, Registered UK and Wales charity number 1112476, Company numbers 05413970

For Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

I can’t go on said his heart;
Fairy of the silken shirt
I must stop cried his soul;
Vagabond of our lost world
“This is it” teased the small voice;
Incandescent shooting star

ART/world pulled from 234Next

I am sure some of you who have been reading my ART/world column in 234Next newspaper have been wondering what happened. Well, our engagement has been called off because of irreconcilable differences. But who knows, our online matchmaker may succeed in getting us back together. I will return to more regular postings here on Ofodunka. And yes, I will be seeing the Mami Wata show presently at the National Museum of Africa in Washington DC, and will post my thoughts on the show soon.