The  exchange  agreement  between  UW-
Parkside and Obafemi  Awolowo  University
in  lle-lfe,  Nigeria,  is  being  funded  by  both
institutions and the U.S. Information  Agency.

The programme was established through the
connections of Lillian  Traeger,  professor  of
anthropology who has researched in Nigeria
for  years  and  travelled  extensively  in  the

country.

Obafemi  Awolowo  University,  a  25,000-
student  campus  on  the  western  edge  of  Ni-
geria, is situated  on a large parcel  between a
rain  forest  and  a savannah.  Agbo  Folarin  is
the second  Nigerian  faculty  member  to visit
UW-Parkside. No UW-Parkside faculty have
taken  part  in  the  exchange  yet  but  several

have  expressed  interest.  Traeger  said  the
exchange  will  have  benefits  for  faculty  and
students.

'They have a highly qualified  set of  faculty,'
she said. The exchange gives students expo-
sure  to  different  perspectives  and  benefits
the  University  'just  in  terms  of  expanding
our  knowledge.'  GR

BACK IN IFE:THE SCULPTOR-STORY-

TELLER BACK AT HIS BASE.

TAI ADE  FATO

The campus  of Obafemi  Awolowo  Univer-
sity, Ile-Ife  is well  regarded  among  Africa's
most beautiful campuses. It derives its beauty
not only from  the serene driveway  that ush-
ers the visitor through a distance of about two
kilometres from the gate to the main campus.
The  buildings  still  stand  as  masterpieces  of
modern architectural design. Above all, there
are the sculptural works and murals found all
over  the  campus  which  make  a  statement
about the tastes of the founding fathers of this
monumental  community.

We drove  into  the  campus  on  a sunny  day,
late for our appointment  with Agbo Folarin.
The appointment had been booked by Lillian
Traeger,  a  lecturer  from  the  University  of
Wisconsin  - Parkside.

We had to pay a price for coming late, thanks
to a  flat  tyre  in  the  course  of  the  Lagos-Ife
trip.  After  a  long  wait,  we  finally  located
him; it was as if he was the one that had been
late for the appointment.  He fussed  over us,
sympathising with us overthejourney's slight
misfortune.

Then  Agbo  Folarin  insisted  we  must  have
something  to  eat.  The  pounded  yam  at  the
buka  (bamboo-shed  restaurant) just  behind
the Fine and Applied Arts Department build-
ing was a finger-licking  affair.  Then  we got
down  to  business.

This  was  not  to  be  another  long  session  of
interview discussing the theory and practice
of arts. It was a tour session  in which  Agbo
Folarin took us round the campus showing us

his works which constitute a large portion of
the monuments that make the campus a vast
permanent exhibition  ground.

The first  was in  1973. It is a metal  mural  in
front  of the Students'  Union Building. It is a
melange of themes, a trend we were to find in
a lot of Agbo Folarin's  works. The mural  is
about  protest,  which  symbolises  students'
unionism. As Agbo Folarin put it,  'Unionism
is always about protesting about treatment of
students by the government or by the univer-
sity  authorities.'

There are representations of different  sports.
The building  also houses the  administrative
offices  of the  sports complex  of  the  univer-
sity. There  are  the  footballer,  the  netballer,
weight-lifter and people in different  forms of

78

physical exercises all built into Folarin's work
here.

An  observable  tendency  in  Folarin  (all  his
works are sculptures) is a bent towards story-
telling.  An  aspect  of  history  is  more  often
chronicled.

At  the  University  Hall,  a  gigantic  mural  is
titled The  Ife Story. It portrays the  Yoruba
creation  myth with  focus  on  the cradle of  a
race  in  the  historical  city  of  Ile-Ife.  The
individuals who migrated to found the Yoruba
nation are the heroes of this work. This is the
work  that New  Currents,  Ancient  Rivers,  a
book published by the Smithsonian Founda-
tion on contemporary African  art exhibited.

A visit to the University Conference  Centre
is effectively  an  entrance  into  the  world  of
Agbo Folarin's creativity. There we encoun-
tered  such  works  as  Faces  at  the  Confer-
ence. This procession  of about twenty  faces
has something to say about an average con-
ference. 'It tries to satirise conference goers,'
as Folarin  put it.  'Conference  goers  always
wear masks  - an invisible  mask  though,'  he
remarked.

Doning a wig is an overbearing image which
we are told  represents  the Nigerian  aristoc-
racy. He is flanked  by two intellectuals. The
generalisimo  at  the centre  also  has  another
follower  behind  him,  a praise-singer  arche-
type. He is the proverbial paid piper imbibing
the tunes of his payer.

And  there  is  the  ever-present  bored  Jonah
who is dosing away a little distance from  all
the surrounding  hullabaloo.

Also on doors at the Centre are The Story of
Iyamopo which presents the Yoruba mytho-
logical spirit behind  the success of women's

This was not to be

another long session
of interview discussing
the theory and prac-
tice of arts. It was a
tour session in which
Agbo Folarin took us

round the campus

showing us his works

which constitute a
large portion of the

monuments that make
the campus a vast per-

manent exhibition

ground.

From Left, John Picton, reporter & Agbo Folarin

1

79

commercial  endeavours  and  The  Story  of
Ibeji.  The  latter  presents  one  of the  most
popular of Yoruba beliefs which is that twins
are special  spiritual  beings  that  must  be re-
vered.  This  myth  is. skilfully  depicted  in a
brass work of many  faces. There is also  The
Story of the Sango  Priest, a devotee of the
Yoruba deity  of thunder  and  lightening.

There  are  others  of  the  sculptor's  works  all
over the campus of Obafemi  Awolowo Uni-
versity such as a larger-than-life metal sculp-
ture of Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, the universi-
ty's second vice-chancellor mounted in  front
of the University  Library  named  after  him.

If going through the campus says something

about  Folarin's  prolificity,  what  about  visit-
ing  his  home  at the  University  Quarters?
Chairs  are  hewn  out  of  wood  trunks,  stools
are made of teaks, all over shelves and  book
stands are sculptures not to talk of  the walls.
He  has  an impressive  collection  of other
artists' works  too, C1R

illustrated  tueaklu

•\M;E  IU VS  NEWSLETTER  FOR  THE  ARTS'

In terms of size, it hadn't  much going for

it; being a four-page  newsletter  printed
in A4 magazine format  did little to  dif-
ferentiate  it from  the  scores  of ragsheets
churned out from obscure presses secreted in
equally obscure corners of Lagos.

But what it lacked in size, the Arts  Illustrated
Weekly, a publication devoted exclusively to
chronicling  events  in  the culture  sector  and
beaming the limelight on artists, made up for
in aspirations  and  philosophy.

First  published  on  Thursday  May  4,  1989,
Arts Illustrated  Weekly was a welcome drop
of moisture in a terrain surfeited with all sorts
of magazines and  newspapers giving all the
attention to politics but precious little to the
arts, as is pretty much  the case these days.

The  anxiety  over  what  appeared  to be  its
demise with its last outing on Thursday March
24,1994, after almost five years of gallantly
braving the challenge of publishing, prompted
not a few  questions  from  those  concerned.

Long published as a solo effort, its publisher,
Hakeem Shitta, a photojournalist  who oper-
ates from  his two-bedroom  apartment in the
Amuwo  Odofin  Housing  Estate  says  that
Arts Illustrated  Weekly  is not dead  but tem-
porarily stalled. 'I have to be dead before the
publication can die,'  he adds  defiantly.

'I had to go to hospital for surgery and it was
getting  from  one  to two  and  so on.  So it
naturally  got  stalled;  that's  how  much  the
surgery  has  taken.'  The  sessions  with  sur-

geons, which was occasioned by a malignant
growth  in his cranium,  lasted  almost a year
and that meant that the magazine was denied
the  attention  and  funds  that  should  have
sustained it for the period.

But  Shitta  holds  stubbornly  to  the  original
purpose  and  philosophy  of Arts  Illustrated
Weekly,  which  was, as he puts it,  'to  mould
the  arts  and  artists  within  my  own  kind  of
small  resources,  to celebrate  the  artist. It
occurred to me that if the artist can't make as
much  money  as his counterparts  elsewhere
maybe he'll get as much celebration as he got
elsewhere.  It's  part of the  arts  to  make  the
limelight and not only money  in those other
parts of the  world.'

In what appears to be its first phase of exist-
ence,  the publication  carried a major  cover
story surrounded by news from the Nigerian
cultural sphere, a column featuring the birth-
days of  artists, titbits  on prominent  cultural
personalities,  notices and  advertisements.

'It was originally designed for contributions,
artists  telling  their  story, critiques,  an  open
gate meant to publish the writer as he writes.
That's why there's noeditor,'explains Shitta.
Presented  in this way, Shitta necessarily had
a  one-on-one  relationship  with  such  con-
tributors,  who  were  given  a predetermined
space  to fill  beyond  which  they  had  to  do
their own  editing. 'I always find it distaste-
ful,  except  for  obvious grammatical  errors,
to tamper with a contribution because I know
that  the  way  a person  writes,  the  kind of
words  he uses  and  the  way  he uses  them

explain his style and character and make him
different.  So,  what  I always  do is send  the
material back to the contributor and tell him,
"your  material  is  over-spilling",'

Another  quality  of  the  newsletter  which  he
was  determined  to retain  was  its  editorial
independence.  As if to  repudiate  the  suspi-
cion that could be harboured that the publica-
tion  went  off the  streets  due  to financial
problems, Shitta says he never had real finan-
cial problems publishing  it. Rather, the only
problem  he  had  was  with  editorial  matter,
which did not always come in from  contribu-
tors as scheduled, and which made him some-
times  violate the date of  publishing.

'It is true  that  at a time I needed  assistance
with  adverts  because  I was  not  getting  the
type of advertisers I need to help the newslet-
ter.  Since editorial  materials  were not  com-
ing in as scheduled and as advertisers wanted
to see the publication  on its publishing date,
I needed advertisers who were patient enough
to  tolerate  the  shifts  we  sometimes  had to
make  and  who  really  cared  for  their  corpo-
rate  image.'  he explains.

According  to  Shitta,  direct  financial  assist-
ance  in the  form  of grants or monetary  gifts
from  companies  or  individuals  would  com-
promise  his editorial  independence  and  put
him  under  obligation  to such  'sponsors'. 'I
don't  need  that  sort of 'assistance'  beyond
advertisements  that  would appear  in the pa-
per and leave no weight on my  conscience.'

Shitta  plans  to re-launch  the publication
'within a month,' after re-adjusting to the arts
scene. But  not  before  fulfilling  a condition,
which is the concurrent publishing of a direc-
tory on Nigerian artists, adocument which he
has  long  planned  and  is almost  ready for
publishing.

He  looks  forward  to the  launch  with  opti-
mism  as the  climate  in which  he used to
publish  has  changed  considerably  from  the
days  he used  to encounter  problems  with
typesetting.  He now  sets  the  pages  on  a
personal computer he recently purchased for
the purpose. But he hints that the cover price,
which had changed from an initial 50 kobo in

80