Andrew Esiebo| Verily, verily, God is truly Alive

Andrew Esiebo| Verily, verily, God is truly Alive

Andrew Esiebo, Nigerian photographer's last exhibition in Italy, 2012

       “Do you know God is alive? If you believe, then, shout a big hallelujah! I know some minds out there, as they are watching me now on the screen, will be pondering over what I have just said. I tell you what, ‘woe unto that man that says there is no God’,” echoes a Nigerian preacher with his American influenced accent to the subjective viewers that are supposedly glued on to his church cable channel very early on television.

Nigerian born photographer, Andrew Esiebo’s latest photo exploration is indeed alive and very full of contemporal church fraternities and their moments. It is the new power of worship only for those who are alive with God in this modern age Christendom.

Remember Andrew? Not the dreamer checking out. Rather, the lens man that gave us the Barber series across seven West African countries. He is also the same photo maverick that gave us more to salivate beyond the World Cup actions in 2010 in South Africa. Andrew Esiebo’s list is endless. More work and gracefully alive in his vocation.

The European renaissance philosopher, Karl Marx, opined and affirmed that religion is the opium of the masses.  It was an affirmation made during the renaissance. Today, Marx’s postulation may be behind time and outdated, because, religion is no more opium for the masses, but the rich and the middle classes are falling into the cauldron of religion.

Andrew Esiebo’s photo essay centers on modern and mega-styled Pentecostalism that has spread its hangers and indeed captured the mood of hitherto conservative Christian faithful. Exclusive photographs taken from their different Velodromes and massive church structures around the city of Lagos and most especially, the

new ‘hang outs’ proudly located along the expressway at the various outskirts of the megacity. The photographs are a collection of photo movements and performances that could as well stand for behind the scenes of an African epic or documentary film on location.

Andrew moved with his faith to have access to all these mesmerizing and cinematic attraction with that fervent precision between his camera movements and the various characters and scenes that saw him moving ahead to snap those come back to life actions of different crusades from many conventions of Pentecostal churches.

Africa is on the rise in Christendom and Karl Marx didn’t have Africa on his mind when he made that pronouncement. Rather, it was an

assessment of the bourgeois and proletariat cultures at the advent of

industrialization in Europe. Now, checking Andrew’s latest offering, God is more alive in Africa than in Europe.

The cable channel has dissolved the scene from the American influenced preacher to a big congregation. While the preacher is powerfully dressed in his ivy-league suit bought by the faithful definitely, the congregation also has a mix-sartorial appearance for one to surely know they never lack. They exhibit that confident pose and poise because they know they are being transmitted live to the globe.

The bigger the church today, the more your sphere of influence as the Lord’s anointed servant. The preacher yells at his people about

the act of giving. He screams while telling them givers never lack with a lapel microphone attached to his suit. Everything happens in front of an in-house production crew with sophisticated equipment that will make many terrestrial television stations run for their money.

God is Alive in Nigeria vernacular means ‘God Dey.’  This is a popular parlance in the Nigerian vernacular lexicion, especially, a common phrase among the haves-not, but today, christendom narrow gate to heaven is for the noveau-riche that can be stylish in giving to the growth of the gospel.

 Andrew Esiebo’s command of art through the lens is unprecendented. he is truly a dark room rat. Running conceptual images and telling your stories may look dangerous, especially when the connection is not there for curatorial practice. But Andrew is simply a class act! In fact, the young, bearded photographer this time, decided to go spiritual.

Have we forgotten a popular Nigerian televangelist that soared in the early 1980s who was the purveyour of this present style of worship in one of his crusades, demanded for a better offering for the Lord, because as he thundered on the congregation, “my God is not that God of peanuts. Not a God of Ten naira notes.” We still remember him? 

Andrew Esiebo

                                                                                                                                     His mastery of the Bible chapters was legendary. He spat around his brand of christianity in over flowing and designer robes, looking allure,  to make people and worshippers knew at that time, indeed God is truly alive. Today, there are many of his disciples that have even taking the celebrity style to the next level, as it is written and proclaimed by Jesus Christ to His disciples, “Whatsoever miracle I have done, you will surely do bigger ones.”

Andrew Esiebo is a walking lens man. While driving he is curious. His sojourn around the world creating images on commissions and prvate assignments have given him the broad knowledge of creative writing, a unique and important aspect in conceptual photography. “Sniffing around is so important to me as imagination creeps into one’s mind faster than being stone cold in a place,” he once stated.

The preacher is still alive on his cable platform encouraging viewers and worshippers not to forget to always sow their seed. “This is the time, he reels.Pay your tithes, do not steal from God.  If you don’t sow then, what do you reap?” He continues,  “Remember the way Jesus was asked in the Bible, ‘should we pay Caesar?’ Don’t forget Jesus response, “ show me a coin, and the question He asked, please viewers don’t switch off this channel yet, as I am about to pray for you, the preacher begs, Jesus  responded and said give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and…..cut!….power disconnect!

All photographs courtesy Andrew Esiebo

Story/ Ireho Aito

Art from the Ijo Spirit World by Martha G. Anderson

The Niger River forms a vast network of waterways, tropical forests, and mangrove swamps before it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The Ijo have lived in this remarkable environment for several millennia, and their beliefs echo its striking contrasts between land and water, rainy and dry; Ijo art and ritual often involve canoes and other prominent features of the riverain landscape. Unlike their relatives in the eastern delta, who were heavily involved in trade and created a series of city-states, Ijo living west of the Nun River supported themselves largely by farming and fishing; their clans were united only by descent and allegiance to common war gods. These gods no longer honor warriors for taking human lives, but the Central and Western Ijo continue to value masculine strength and assertiveness. References to their warlike past abound in shrines, rituals, and masquerades, and ceremonial war canoes still appear at festivals, including those held for war gods.

  The Ijo believe that both people and spirits originate far off in the sky in a place called Wonyinghibou, or ‘Our Mother’s Forest’, and return there after death to await rebirth. They reason that the creator is female, because only women can bear children. Wonyinghi takes little interest in earthly events, but some Central Ijo towns seek her help in preventing epidemics. The priest of this shrine claims that no one knows what Wonyinghi looks like because she lives so far away, but songs portray her as an old woman wearing white, the color associated with the spirit world. The staff and stool combination, which serves as her emblem here, can also be used to represent other spirits. At a festival held during the dry season, shrine members raise the divination ladder to communicate with Wonyinghi, sweep the town clean with the broom, and sprinkle medicines from the pot to keep sickness at bay.

Shrine for Wonyinghi, the creator, Azuzama, Bassan clan. Central Ijo peoples, Nigeria, 1979. Photo by Martha G. Anderson.

Before acquiring bodies, people appear before Wonyinghi to tell her whether they will be rich or poor, fertile or barren; this contract governs their lives, and even specifies how they will die. Because of their extreme naiveté before birth, some people choose badly. This young woman’s prenatal agreement prevents her from bearing healthy children, so a diviner has prescribed a ritual called zibe bari to replace it with a more positive one. In this form of the rite, the young woman holds a basket aloft on a pole; when singing and drumming induce possession, she sways, and offerings spill onto the ground. Finally, spirits guide her to the spot where she is to pin the pole in the ground. Relationships people form with spirits while living in Wonyinghibou can also affect their lives on earth; this case also involves a prenatal marriage to a jealous water spirit, who must be appeased with invocations and offerings.
Spirits, or orumo, mingle with people in Wonyinghibou, but have their own communities on earth. The Ijo distinguish between two types of spirits, whose appearance and behavior contrast as sharply as their habitats; water spirits can harm people, but tend to be far less irritable and vindictive than their counterparts on land, who kill at the slightest provocation. People take precautions whenever they enter the forest, but are especially careful to avoid areas that the bush spirits have claimed for themselves. When the volatile spirits retaliate against intruders by causing severe illness or erratic behavior, diviners may prescribe a ritual called bouyou seimo to counter their influence. The diviner and her assistants gather medicines from a special part of the forest and apply them by spitting, splashing, or poking at the patient, to ‘spoil’ the spirits’ power and ‘beat them back’. They also pour libations and sing and dance to the accompaniment of ritual drums.

Zibe bari, ritual to change the birth agreement. Korokorosei, Olodiama clan. Central Ijo peoples, Nigeria, 1979. Photo by Martha G. Anderson.

 The spirits people befriend in Wonyinghibou sometimes follow them to earth; some simply demand offerings, but others request that objects be provided for their use as earthly receptacles. Spirits who want attention typically alert their human friends or relatives by causing illness, misfortune, or strange behavior. Nature spirits sometimes cause people to behave combatively, reflecting their own anti-social tendencies. When this man was younger, diviners interpreted his overly aggressive behavior in the wrestling arena as an indication that a nature spirit he had known before birth wished to join him. Once he provided his bodiless friend with a carved image, his behavior became socially acceptable. Spirits of this type can also cause fertility problems. A woman described her friend from Wonyinghibou as a kind of spirit double, who looks like her and experiences the same things she does, but lives in the forest; her problems bearing healthy children ended when she acquired a carving.
In contrast to spirits living on land, water spirits tend to be benevolent beings who bring people children and money. Instead of black or dark blue, the colors bush spirits use to signify indomitability, water spirits like white, a color which connotes spirituality and wealth; they prefer offerings of imported food and beverages, like corned beef and Sprite, to the local produce bush spirits consume. Likewise, water spirits typically materialize as aquatic animals or things found in the water, instead of as vines and termite mounds, and seldom request figure carvings. In spite of these differences, the Ijo view spirits from the two zones as complementary and claim they can even intermarry. Diviners consulted about a small bronze caryatid found in the water determined it was Apeghele’s water wife. Apeghele, a bush spirit, formerly had two wives; the carving of his bush spirit wife has deteriorated, but his water wife stands propped against his legs.

Water spirits can materialize in many forms, but the Ijo generally describe them as beautiful beings with fair skin and long, flowing hair. In keeping with their watery habitat and associations with wealth and trade, they often choose shiny and/or manufactured items as their emblems: men typically purchase plastic dolls to represent their water wives; women use a glass tumbler, white saucer, and native chalk ensemble for their water husbands. As in the case of Apeghele’s water wife, diviners often consider objects people find in the water, like miniature paddles, sticks of wood, and keys, to be water spirits. This diviner says the emblems in her shrine appeared magically, like the glass tumbler she discovered after hearing something fall during a storm. According to her, not even the wooden objects in the shrine were carved by human hands. Diviners often have multiple spirit companions; this one claims to have one hundred and forty.

Adumu’s status as head of the water spirits on both sides of the Nun River suggests that the Ijo have revered him for many centuries. As an aspect of the python, he operates on both land and water, but shrines represent him as a water man. His preference for carved images sets Adumu apart from other water spirits; interestingly, the Central Ijo serve him the same types of ‘imported’ foods and drinks requested by other water spirits, but describe him as very dark skinned. Adumu typically appears with his canoe and fishing gear, suggesting that his current role as the patron of traders may have evolved from an original one as the patron of fishermen. However, some of the paddles and spears in this shrine, as well as a staff and stool configuration, represent spirits. Adumu’s wife also accompanies him, because an Ijo man must marry and produce children to be considered an adult.
Courtesy Art and Life in Africa

MY DEBUT|NKECHI NWOSU IGBO

The toughest time I remember, was when my husband and I were preparing for our first major show and we hand painted our frames ourselves! I carried strips of wood from the wood market on a bike, all the way to the park

Nkechi Nwosu Igbo at the centre with Chuma Nwokolo and Uche Peter

 

 

Nkechi Nwosu-Igbo is a poet, installation artist and painter, living and working in the city of Lagos. She was born in 1973, and studied Mixed Media Painting at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where she was inspired by the works of Obiora Udechukwu and Olu Oguibe. She started exhibiting quite early and has been involved in over 80 exhibitions as an artist and in curatorial roles. Nkechi serves as the curator at The Edge Studio and Artistic Director at Mild Red Studio.

For over a decade, the artist has consciously made her works and impact on the art global space felt in a multidimensional ways. Nkechi Igbo’s works have continuously reflected the educational system of Nigeria. Her unapologetically crude installations are known for their very high level of critical activism and social obligation.

With an enviable and impressive career manual, Nkechi Igbo is a thoroughbred artist who has become a model today for aspiring female artists to look up to. She succumbs to neither stress nor fatigue, rather they are complements to be on the driver’s end of the wheel. Some of her collaborative efforts are Interrupted Lives in 2012, Old News 2009, Closures and Enclosures 2009, Identities and Labels 2005, the CHOGM exhibition 2003,

Nkechi Igbo’s memorable solo exhibitions are Not Ready to Walk Away 2009, Implied Walls 2006, Creating Space, Erasing Space 2003, Urban Ugliness 2001,

The artist still recalls the humble beginning, when it was a rough riding moment in her life. “I was always so busy that I didn’t stop to think of things being rough. Even as undergraduate, I never did let my finances (or lack of it) affect my ideas. I could spend everything on materials and then live on Coca Cola and bread. The toughest time I remember, was when my husband and I were preparing for our first major show and we hand painted our frames ourselves! I carried strips of wood from the wood market on a bike, all the way to the park. Looking at my bruised palms, then I know I had fully paid my dues! 

by Aito Ireho

Uche James Iroha’s “Power and Powers”|Give Power to the People

“Wanton riches are discovered in the electricity business that parents and guardians would even want their wards to work their way into the Parastatal Corporation in charge of electricity and power jobs and employment, as research findings have proved that power corporation is one of the most corrupt arms of the Nigerian civil service system!”

 

In Nigeria, the first spoken words coming from a toddler or infant while trying to mutter words and languages is “Up NEPA!” the phrase is more popular than and has outlived any Nigerian president living or dead!

 

  It is so synonymous to our modern day lexicon and for over 54 years, the phrase has remained with us as a nation, despite the change of name, logo, seal from ECN to NEPA, and now PHCN and the legendary privatisation process and more names and reformed status are on the way, yet the script has refused to change or move the storyline to the genuine act. The role and the function of the electricity generating Parastatal corporation has been ridiculed, even by the unlettered locales that they warn their wards whenever there is relatively stable electricity, then, you don’t give credits to the power generating company or Parastatal corporation behind it as they see it as a taboo or bad omen, once they are appraised or celebrated, they instantly cut off the supply

 

Nigerian born photographer, Uche James Iroha is a 70s child. He belongs to the children given birth to after the civil war and experienced the Gowon’s regime development plan after the war. The oil boom era, massive salary structures in the civil service, financial profligacy that came with the oil boom, new development plans being executed, the new national anthem, Nigeria’s big brotherly role all over, Africa and even FESTAC ’77, but despite all these, the power problem still persisted and unfortunately, it is still with us till today. 

 

It becomes a difficult venture for an artist to see and feel truth and later explode it to the world. A very risky venture for artists and artistes to plunge into. Uche damned the consequence and for complete five years of his life, he refused to back down and took one of the greatest risks of his life, even when some optimists assured him things would have become better before he comes out to exhibit. Close to five years things have gone for the worse. Uche didn’t stop and he decided to showcase his findings through photography exhibition supported by NIKON, a camera company.
His father was a renowned thespian who gave his country selfless service through art. From broadcasting to theatre, the senior James Iroha, popularly known as ‘Gringory’ gave a first class service life through some iconic drama series such as “The Masquerade”Uche James Iroha studied sculpture at the University of Port-Harcourt and took to photography in the mid nineties. A Prince Claus Fund recipient due to his outstanding contribution in photography among his generation, the Flesh, Fire and Blood exhibitor has grown his career steadily and unprecedented manner into global reckoning. He runs Photogarage, a photo clinic and a place to develop personal interest in the art. The dreadlock photographer swept the world, the civil society, collectors and enthusiasts off their feet in this latest offering at Omenka Gallery recently. The exhibition was entitled “Power and Powers” and the images were taken in black and white still using Nikon cameras. 

 

 The artist and the activism in him revealed the truth behind the darkness of one of the richest African countries and the people that are also in the dark perpetuating evil for 54 years now, leaving their supposedly precious citizens in the dark.

Often times, we get information and press releases about the grid and the enormous money being pumped into everything for a stable power supply, but behind us in the dark, the greed of some certain group continues to put the country in the dark.

 

Allegations of corrupt practices have been exposed so many times in the Parastatal corporation, but the people in the dark corner perpetuating this darkening act have never being brought to book!
We would recall the 1987 power blackout throughout the federation and the uproar that followed. People were arrested, saboteurs were caught, people were sentenced, yet the darkness remained.

 

 Haven’t we seen the staff at the Parastatal corporation warning intruders and their fellow staff on disconnection patrol never to step into their abode and tamper with their electricity, because there is always a sign on the door close to their metre that reads “NEPA staff lives here please don’t disconnect.” Any person that works with power and electricity generating company is seen as a demi-god in any neighborhood that person resides in Nigeria. He gets popularity vote more than the CDA leader, because of the person’s access to the corridor of power. 

 

Wanton riches are discovered in the electricity business that parents and guardians would even want their wards to work their way into the Parastatal Corporation in charge of electricity and power jobs and employment, as research findings have proved that power corporation is one of the most corrupt arms of the Nigerian civil service system! Even till now, privatisation and commercialisation processes have stalled so many times. Today the ludicrous privatisation has been shaded in mysterious darkness!
To give power to the people, the people have also being warned by the slogan “Never Expect
 Power Always!”
 

Photographs/I amMarshall courtesy of Photogarage studios