Primary sales of Nigerian Artworks can create billions of dollars if targeted —Ejike

A non-governmental Organisation, 1952 Africa, is an incubator dedicated to supporting Nigerian creatives. In this Interview by SEGUN KASALI, its founder, Ejike Egbuagu, gave insight into the rationale behind the foundation, overview of the arts industry in Nigeria, challenges, and suggested possible solutions. Excerpts:

What led to 1952 Africa?

1952 Africa was borne out of two things- personal reason and also a logical reason. As for me, the logical reason is the artwork and the similarities in it. I have always wondered why is it that an African work of the same style, structure, technique, would be priced at one thousand dollars (1000$), while an European artwork with exactly the same style and technique would be priced at hundred thousand dollars (100,000$). It does not make any sense. So, I thought about it and knew that it needs investigation. The personal reason which is the emotional side is the fact that my mother was an artist and she experienced this same anomally. In her own time, she worked very hard to create herself and support other artists. And when she passed away three years ago, my siblings and I thought one of the best ways to celebrate her life was to take her artworks further and continue her legacy. These two things combined created a huge motivation for not just me but also my siblings too. We devoted our time to creating an institution that can do it with or without us.

And what was the perception of artworks in her lifetime?

In her lifetime, the artwork in Nigeria or Africa was always perceived as just ornaments and collectables, tourists attractions, things that you can just pick up in Africa. They felt those things are supposed to be cheap, they are supposed to be picked up to show in the United States and that mentality generally reduced several of the creations of local artists to ornaments and collectibles. And then, the economic situations in Africa also did not help the situation; It commoditizes the creativity to the point where their works were nearly worthless. Even though you are still looking at something brilliant and powerful, the economic disadvantage played against the local artists in Nigeria and Africa.

Would it suffice to say there was negative perception towards African Arts?

I would not say there was a negative perception towards african art because if you go back to history, African arts have always been considered priceless. In fact, they call our artworks “artefacts”. It is now about the bargaining power of the artists; that is where the economic disadvantage comes in and there is the demand and supply.

What causes this difficulty in bargaining process?

What contributed to this difficulty in the bargaining process is the depth of knowledge and research attached to the work and this is another area that organisations in Africa have spent time to create programmes that addresses it. Like our our organisation, it seeks to take away a lot of the burden of earning fast by creating a space where the artist has time and is supported with stipends and an enabling environment, and hoping that artists with the same passion and interest will create the very best that has been ever created within that space and time.

Isn’t it sensible to say you are doing what government’s duties?

I think we are too small to take the place of government. I think they have a role to play but they cannot do it all and they do not know it all. There is more for the government to do but I think that government should always support private sector and support NGO such as ours to amplify the work we are already doing.

What kind of support are you talking about?

I will give an example; we started this programme one hundred per cent funded by an endowment of one organisation which we are very grateful for-MONEDA organisation. It provided for 1952 Africa to run the programme. This year, we have decided to expand the programme. In the first year, we paid for accommodation for about two to three of the artists who did not live in Lagos and struggle to find where to stay close-by. If not, they would have been able to travel distances. So, this year, we have rented a building very close to us here in Lekki where the artists would live and we have furnished and renovated it to their comfort. And at the same time, we have a second project- the exhibition space that we use is being transformed into an Art Lounge, which would be a space for artists to meet, bond and share ideas under a membership structure. The first program will be ready in two weeks’ time. All these programmes have been targeted to where government agencies can participate.

They can throw in support towards the cost of materials, towards the cost of engineers, interior designers and they can partner with us and have their names on the wall as patrons and supporters.

On a general note, your advice to the new Minister on Art Development in Nigeria.

So, we have a new minister, what do you have to say?

Firstly, I would love to congratulate the new Minister of Art, Culture and Creative Economy, Her Excellency Hannatu Musawa. I think that the Art and culture vertical of the economy is the one that has been neglected for too long. You have a global art industry that has been earning up to fifty to seventy billion dollars annually. The African participation of that is less than three per cent and when you itemise it down to Nigeria, it is almost insignificant. Now, that is in the primary sales. In the secondary sales of African art, they are moving heavily internationally but the earnings are not coming to Africans because the primary sales are happening at very low amount. So, the beneficiaries of the proliferation of African sales are borrowing agent. The work of the Minister that is trying to create a brand new result is to target primary sales of African and Nigerian works. You can create forex of billion of dollars with targeted programmes and working closely with organisations like us that is placing Nigerian artists in global market. You can ensure that the sales at the primary side are being done by Nigerians and are properly priced in the first round of sales. That would be a direction we would advice our honourable Minister to look at, as well as supporting the incubation of these artists which is what 1952 is doing. We need to invest in the artist. They need to have the right environment to create the best work. If they do that, their works will be highly priced. I want to share with you a real life case of one of our artists that we are very proud of who when he came to us a year ago was very passionate. Even with his passion, he never sold an artwork for more than three hundred and fifty thousand naira (N350,000) in his life.

One year later, his works are going for four thousand dollars (4000$) and he is about to have his first solo exhibition in New York. That is the power of an accelerator like this which is targeted at the Arts and Culture. It is not just about painting trees and mountain. It is your work talking about your identity, your history, your culture, those are the things that the world are fascinated about not our trees or irons. The trees and irons are nice but they are more fascinated about our tribal mark, our masquerade. Those are the things that makes our works more valued.

What about the individual artists that come for the programme?

So, the artists that come into our programm do not pay anything. We are NGO. They are chosen and hence benefit from everything we do. One of the things we have introduced is the final auction after a programme- Twenty per cent of their works are retained by the foundation. But, it is not enough to run the foundation. We try to create some mechanisms to cover some costs. Also, we encourage the artists to donate one piece of work, but that piece of work is retained to the gallery and is used as a reference point so that when a guest comes into the gallery they can see the progression of the classes that we have had and they can see the quality of the output that these artists have produced at the end of their time and it serves as a home for their works not to be sold but a reference point for people to come in at any time to see.

We have based our sustainability for revenues on support from patrons, organisations, governments and foreign foundations because like I said the foreigners are very fascinated with having more insight into our culture.

Besides, technology is the order of the day in the current world. How is 1952 embracing and leveraging on the tech space?

For us, technology is just a tool to achieve what you want faster but not a replacement to what you want to do or your hard work. In this new cohort that we are launching this month, we are very excited to introduce for the first time one of the artists that would be a Digital Artist. We are embracing the trend of technology and showing that it is possible to utilise technology while still retaining your story and depth because we think it is the only thing that makes us unique. We could be wrong but it is our humble opinion that as Africans the only thing that makes us unique is our culture and so we must hold on to it if we are to remain special. We will be working with new artists too to try and make sure that even by embracing technology the artists does not lose out on the message and value.

How many artists have graduated from the foundation ?

We have had five Visual Artists who graduated last year and one culinary artist who was our first official artist-Tolu Eros. In collaboration, we sponsored his tour in the United States, which essentially launched from Nigeria into the United States market and that was successful. It resulted in him creating two restaurants in Los Angeles and proving that African culture in the form of food is exportable and is premium. It is possible to serve Amala in a fine dining restaurant and charge five hundred dollars (500$) and the place will be packed. We know that because we have tried it. It was an experiment and it worked because we knew that the world would pay for an African item and would pay premium for it as long as it is presented in a world class manner and we are true to our identity and that is what Chef Eros brand represented for us and we supported him. Then, we also supported an artist named Issac Paul, a photography artist in our first gallery exhibition about three years ago and then we moved on to our residency where we have five artists that graduated from the actual residency programme.

How has the Foundation been keeping tabs on the Graduands?

We have a programme that the Art Directors have set up where every month they have a session where they catch up on what they are doing. We also have events that we host some guests and invite some alumni to speak on how far they have gone. We also invite the audience to their exhibitions. That is how I found out there is a guy that his work was auctioning for about four thousand dollars (4000$) and he was about getting on a flight to New York to exhibit his work and we are very happy with their progress and we cannot wait to do it again.

Do you think your mother will be happy with the work 1952 Africa is doing?

I think she will be very happy. For her, life was more than just the money. She was all about work. She believes whatever you are doing has to impact people positively in some way and I think we are on track to make her proud.

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