Wole Adedoyin interviews Ejimuda Darlington Ikenna: Nigerian Artists Often use Their Platforms to Advocate for Human Rights During Times of Protest
WA: PLEASE KINDLY INTRODUCE YOURSELF.
EJIMUDA: My name is Ejimuda Darlington Ikenna, I identify as a male, 31 years old, and I am a Nigerian artist. I graduated from the University of Benin Nigeria and currently practice art full-time.
WA: TELL US MORE ABOUT ART IN YOUR COUNTRY.
EJIMUDA: Art in my country is really good and lucrative, especially for artists who have been in the industry for a long time and have made a lot of connections with collectors and galleries. However, it can be discouraging for younger or undiscovered artists like us who are just starting out. Galleries may not accept our work for exhibition or offer low prices, saying we are still upcoming artists. This can be disheartening when you consider the cost of materials and time invested in creating each piece.
WA: HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT IHRAF BEFORE?
EJIMUDA: Yes, I have heard about IHRAF before.
WA: HOW ARE ARTISTS USING ART TO PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS IN YOUR COUNTRY?
EJIMUDA: Artists try to promote human rights in my country mainly when something of this nature happens. For instance, during the SARS protests, artists, both visual and non-visual, used their unique ways to promote the movement.
WA: WHAT THEMES DO YOU PURSUE?
EJIMUDA: My art doesn't really have any particular theme. I produce anything that comes to my mind and I find it interesting because it allows me to be creative and free.
WA: WHAT ART DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?
EJIMUDA: Impressionism, sometimes realism, surrealism, and mostly abstract.
WA: WHAT ROLE DOES AN ARTIST HAVE IN SOCIETY?
EJIMUDA: We artists have a very important role in our various societies, such as helping in cultural preservation and innovation, visual storytelling, social commentary and critique, keeping historical records, and economic impact.
WA: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTWORK?
EJIMUDA: This is really a hard one... I really don't know if you meant the type of art or my personal work. If it's the type of art, then I'll surely say painting, because I'm always free to express myself with any color, style, and medium. If it's my artwork, it would be "ENCOMPASSING."
WA: WHAT JOBS HAVE YOU DONE OTHER THAN BEING AN ARTIST?
EJIMUDA: Apart from being an artist, I've worked as a facilitator, currently as an art educator, and a part-time teacher in a secondary school.
WA: WHY?
EJIMUDA: I did those jobs and why I'm currently working is because of money, which I really need for my materials and upkeep.
WA: WHAT IS AN ARTISTIC OUTLOOK ON LIFE?
EJIMUDA: An artistic outlook on life for me is to appreciate the beauty of imperfection and impermanence, embrace imagination and fantasy, view life as a canvas full of possibilities and creative potential, notice light and shadow, texture and color, and embrace my own uniqueness and that of others. This outlook encourages creativity and self-expression.
WA: WHAT MEMORABLE RESPONSES HAVE YOU HAD TO YOUR WORK?
EJIMUDA: I've had positive responses and very negative ones too. The memorable positive responses I've had was from my course mate at school then, he was like "Hey Darlington, I've seen your works and a lot of improvements in them too, just keep on doing you and don't change because everything will surely workout for you". The memorable negative one was also from a course mate, he was like "This one is just wasting his colours".
WA: WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT THE ART WORLD?
EJIMUDA: What I dislike about the art world is the segregation of upcoming visual artists and popular artists. I believe everyone is unique in their own ways and there is no need for such segregation.
WA: WHAT DO YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR WORK?
EJIMUDA: What I dislike about my artwork is the amount of color it consumes to produce each piece.
WA: WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR WORK?
EJIMUDA: What I really like about my artwork is the uniqueness. I really don't know if there is another upcoming artist that has my kind of style, but I'll tell you that for now in the whole of Nigeria nobody does.
WA: SHOULD ART BE FUNDED?
EJIMUDA: Yes, art should be funded 100%. Some through exhibitions, residencies for undiscovered artists, and government agencies too. The German embassy in Nigeria organizes a one-week masterclass lecture and practicals for artists in Benin City, Abuja, and Lagos, providing art materials and feeding them for the program. They also organize an exhibition for them and buy mostly all the works to encourage the artists.
WA: WHAT ROLES DOES ARTS FUNDING HAVE?
EJIMUDA: Art funding plays an important role in the life of upcoming visual artists. The encouragement alone is the main part of it. Then the ability to do more kicks in, because most of these funding programs are based on selection.
WA: NAME THREE ARTISTS YOU'D LIKE TO BE COMPARED TO.
EJIMUDA: Ooh... Hard one... Uhmm ok
El Dragg Okwoju
Adusu Richie
Segun Ceazar
WA: WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU'VE BEEN GIVEN?
EJIMUDA: "Hey Darlington, I've seen your works and a lot of improvements in them too, just keep on doing you and don't change because everything will surely work out for you."
WA: WHAT IS YOUR FUTURE GOAL?
EJIMUDA: My future goal is to make it in the art world. To be called a popular artist.
WA: YOUR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE TO UPCOMING ARTISTS?
EJIMUDA: My professional advice to my fellow upcoming visual artists out there is "KEEP WORKING, AND NEVER ALLOW CRITICISM TO GET TO YOU, BE YOU AND BE WILLING TO TAKE CORRECTIONS AT THE END EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT FOR YOU."
Ejimuda Darlington Ikenna is a Nigerian artist born in 1993 in Anambra State. He developed a passion for art at a young age and went on to study Fine Arts at the Institute of Management and Technology Enugu for a National Diploma program, before advancing for a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts Education (B.A Edu) at the University of Benin Nigeria. After completing his degree, he honed his skills through workshops and residencies in Enugu and Benin City. In this interview with Wole Adedoyin, he discusses his artworks and his passion for the art.
