Nigeria, UAE boosts ties with arts, culture exhibition

It was a day of glamour and excitement when the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria hosted the 2019 cultural arts and exhibition. The event held at the Alliance Francaise in Lagos showcased the works of Nigerian and UAE artists in what was described as the […]

It was a day of glamour and excitement when the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria hosted the 2019 cultural arts and exhibition.

The event held at the Alliance Francaise in Lagos showcased the works of Nigerian and UAE artists in what was described as the deepening of the bilateral ties between the two countries.

With UAE already recording over $1.2bn in trade deals in Nigeria, the joint arts and cultural exhibition provides a platform for taking bilateral ties to the next level for the benefit of both countries.

The exhibition featured eight established and emerging artists from the UAE and Nigeria. The Artists paraded included, among others, Maisoon Al Saleh (Emirati); Isaac Emokpae (Nigerian); Ama Ejiogu (Nigerian); Laju Sholola; Bolaji Ogunrosoye; Hamid Obaid Al Ali (Emirati); Hussein Al Hashemi and Nelly Ating as well as the popular art curator, designer and environmental activist, Ugonna Ibe-Ejiogu.

Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo flagged off the exhibition attended by the French Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Jerome Pasquier and other tourism enthusiasts. Music, films and dance were featured. There were Nigerian cultural displays which added spice to the exhibition.

The artists displayed a variety of drawings and paintings deploying mixed media; while some of the paintings employed acrylic synthetic leather and craft string on canvas sheet. Most of the Emirati Arts features Arabic calligraphies symbolizing the religious heritage of the Emirati people.

Explaining her work, Ama Ejiogu who works primarily with acrylic paint and found objects said, “By applying the style and technique in my body of work, the desired result is to evoke individual visual connections by allowing the viewer look beyond things that they recognize. My body of work seeks to achieve this by presenting a completely different perspective of the world by rigorously reducing reality to its purest and most basic form.”

Bolaji Ogunrosoye who uses collage as a means of expressing her thoughts said her work “is a personal exploration of identity and emotion.”

She added: “I layer images relevant to my thoughts, of myself, and of my surrounding environment, to create digital emotion and traditional collages which depict alternate universes where I am able to unashamedly deconstruct perceptions of my identity as it is related to being young, Yoruba, Nigerian and a woman,”

The host, Dr. Fahad Obaid AlTaffaq, the Ambassador of UAE to Nigeria, said the exhibition provided a platform to showcase both the UAE and Nigeria’s creative sector that shapes and enriches the lives of many.

With the theme, “Celebrating Cultural Diversity”, the cultural event further solidifies the collaboration of both countries in the creative sector with recent partnership with the Nollywood and Dubai Tourism which has seen many Nigerian movies shot in the UAE.

The UAE Ambassador said: “Culture is a powerful tool used to build bridges between people and reinforce mutual understanding…..It can also be a catalyst for economic and social development not only in its traditional forms but through partnerships with the private sector and further development of the tourism sector.

The Ambassador informed the audience that His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces proclaimed the year 2019 to be the Year of Tolerance in the UAE which was followed by the historic visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to the UAE in February 2019 during which the Human Fraternity Document was signed to promote tolerance and coexistence.

According to him, the idea of tolerance is deeply rooted in the fabric of the culture, heritage and traditions of the UAE; a society that derives its priorities from a combination of its centuries-old authentic Arab customs and the teachings and wisdom of the nation’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Nigeria’s Vice-President described the event as “an impeccable mix of Emirati and Nigerian artists who use their words to tell a variety of stories about identities, about language, about otherness and contemporary contexts just to name a few of the themes.”