Re-imagining Africa’s future at Ake Festival

The Ake Arts & Book Festival, which took place from October 25 to 28, provided space for authors, artists and thinkers to interact. But how well was its ambitious theme, ‘Fantastical Futures’ interrogated? The theme, Fantastical Futures, instantly attracted me to this year’s Ake Arts & Book Festival. So, even on my flight from Abuja […]

The Ake Arts & Book Festival, which took place from October 25 to 28, provided space for authors, artists and thinkers to interact. But how well was its ambitious theme, ‘Fantastical Futures’ interrogated?

The theme, Fantastical Futures, instantly attracted me to this year’s Ake Arts & Book Festival. So, even on my flight from Abuja to Lagos, I was thinking of how it will be explored at the event. I wasn’t disappointed.

Hard as I tried to make it to Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, on October 26, the next day became my first. Before then, school visits had taken place, a fiction workshop by English author and screen writer, Ben Aaronovitch and a dance performance by Kenya’s Wanjiru Kamuyu at the opening of Ouida House where the festival bookstore was located. There was also a book chat by Chibundu Onuzo, author of ‘Welcome to Lagos’ and Michael Donkor, author of ‘Hold’ and more. So, yes, I was eager to catch up.

It’s worthy of note that 2018 is the first year Ake Festival held in Lagos. It used to be in Abeokuta. But there are absolutely no regrets, if you ask me. Radisson Blu was more than just a venue, it owned Ake this year with several rooms and halls, small and large, enough to hold the over fifty events that took place. There was the film shows, panel discussions and book chats, art exhibition, concert, and of course, the Memory Room.

The Art Room

The room was my first experience of the festival once I hit the venue, early. When I stepped into the carpeted area, I was confronted by artworks from four different artists. There on my right was Abdulkareem Baba Aminu’s ink job showing a person wired to tubes plugged into the heart and head and connected to huge books. I have seen quite a number of works in my lifetime, but this completely left me speechless. For me, the near simplicity of it was the genius. What would we do without books for the enrichment of our minds?

Later, I would watch Aminu, who’s presently Editor of Daily Trust Saturday, presented his artwork of Nnedi Okorafor to her on stage.

There was more: a painting of a Fulani herder on a hoverboard suspended over what looked like cattle horns. Are you kidding me? Another showed an Eyo masquerade wearing sneakers, an astronaut with the Nigerian flag clipped to a shoulder. Here we were talking fantastical futures and this artist tied all the knots.

On the right side of the room was YouNeek Studio’s hero ‘world.’ Now, I have read a couple of this studio’s comic books, Malika: Warrior Queen and E.X.O., and found them very appealing. Here’s someone taking the bull by the horn in Nigeria I raved at the time. I soon met the founder, Roye Okupe, whom I have always thought was a one-man army, but he pointed out that he’s not alone in writing the stories, drawing and creating the characters. “Here, there’s the work of three artists: Sukomi Akinboye, Godwin Akpan and Etubi Enuchi,” he said.

One of YouNeek Studio’s work shows a mashup of its comic book heroes and villains facing each other. There were heroes like E.X.O., Malika, Fury and The Windmaker, all original creations. Also, villains such as Two Shots, Dreads, Avon and several more.

Okupe explained that some of his creations were inspired by stories he heard from his parents as a child. Another, Malika, for example, was inspired by Queen Amina of Zazzau. “She was ruler of an empire, but she was also a warrior,” he said. “The Windmaker is also precolonial, inspired by Yoruba culture.”

What was most intriguing about the exhibition was the attempt of the artists to align with the theme ‘Fantastical Futures’.  There was Isma’il Shomala’s painting of women in different shades of bright colours, depicting how they try to incorporate what’s foreign into local clothing.

One of Shomala’s work that caught my attention was of a woman in the rain. He explained that he takes concepts that people talk about, like Afro-futurism, and try to represent them in ways they can relate with. So, the woman is like an outcast being elevated. She has a cyborg arm and other traits of modernisation. While she’s futuristic, she’s still in a village. “This shows how technology is coming to us while we still live in huts. You go to remote places and see people using android phones,” he said.

About a painting of a man with a moon around his head, Shomala said “that’s my take of a spiritual leader in the future in his dumbest form with beads in his beard.”

Eloghosa Osunde’s art was literally the darkest in the room and perhaps the most abstract. One showed the back of a man in a cap and wearing what looked like a full northern attire. My mind quickly went to an almajiri who had risen above his background and made something of himself. But then, maybe the painting would have had some sort of light in it, because everything seemed dark, including where the man was looking at.

Is Osunde’s work prophesying some kind of doom for Africa, as against a better future? I ascribe darkness with evil, so this was difficult for me. But again, it may be that it makes reference to the unknown, after all, we can only predict, prophecy and imagine.

Discussions/Book Chat

Ake creates one of the most striking spaces for discussions and invites some of the most intriguing panellists. This year Egyptian-American Mona Eltahawy was on a panel with Toni Kan and Cynthia Ndeche, and another with Elizabeth Uviebinene and Yomi Adegoke discussing the subject ‘What Do Women Want’?

Eltahawy, who comes from a Muslim background, said “there isn’t one way to be an Egyptian or Muslim woman” and narrated how she was sexually harassed in Mecca and then expected to keep quiet about it. “I want the utter destruction of patriarchy and have spaces where we can discuss such matters,” she said.

A remarkable arrangement was a panel discussion on the theme ‘Divinity and Spirituality in Igbo Tradition’ (by Munoyedi Ogbolumani, Chukwubudike Ugbaja and Eloka Umeh) and ‘Entertainment, Education and Technology in the Mother Tongue’ (by Kunle Afolayan, Tunde Adegbola and Dayo Olagunju) discussed in Igbo and Yoruba languages respectively. The former centred on how the arrival of Christianity in Africa has led to the neglect of traditional indigenous religious practice in Igboland, while the latter was on how English Language has largely displaced the use of the mother tongue.

Unfortunately, there was no forum to discuss, in Hausa language, some of the issues affecting Hausaland, such as its educational ‘backwardness’ and the almajiri question. This would have at least balanced things up. But then, there’s always another year.

There were other engaging topics, such as ‘Is Africa Really Open for Business?’ This choice is timely at this period when Africa needs to look inward, maximise its potentials and also welcome foreign investors. Panellists Feyi Olubodun, Tayo Oviosu and Victor Kgomoeswana discussed how African youths can better equip themselves to confront the future and politics, in order to effect policy change that will influence economic development.

In his 2018 book, ‘The Villager’, Olubodun wrote about how the African consumer begins his life’s journey by moving from the village to the city, carrying with him not only his own dreams, but also the dreams of his community. He becomes his extended family’s link to a better life, and although he may be exposed to global influences and technology, his essential identity remains largely intact. This defines him and how he engages with and consumes brands.

There were other panels: Veteran singer, Salawa Abeni thrashed out the subject ‘Music as a Vehicle for Change’ alongside Tomeletso Sereetsi and Brymo. Ariyike Akinbobola, Yejide Kilanko and Ayo Oyeku also talked about the role of books in the lives of children and how a writer can balance being entertaining and engaging without being patronising, condescending and confusing.

When American novelist Paul Beatty was announced winner of the 2016 Man Booker prize for his book, ‘The Sellout’, it stuck with me. So, when he was listed as one of Ake’s guests, I was understandably thrilled.

Chatting alongside author of ‘Here Comes the Sun’, Jamaica’s Nicole Dennis-Benn, Beatty responded to the subject of closure and how he ended his story: ‘Nothing ever really goes away,” he said, adding how, in a way, his upbringing influenced the work.

Dennis-Benn whose novel is sprinkled with a lot of Patwa dialogue, didn’t mince words. “I’m not a happy ending writer,” she confessed. “Children are given happy endings because they are kids, but this isn’t the case with adults who know what real life is like.” She also pointed out that she wanted her characters to speak in the language she knows is commonly identified with by Jamaicans, which is Patwa.

Other book chats featured Chibundu Onuzo, author of ‘Welcome to Lagos’ and Michael Donker, author of ‘Hold’. Also, Niq Mhlongo (‘Soweto Under the Apricot Tree’) and Peter Kimani (Dance of the Jakaranda’) and several more.

Film

One of the annoying things about Ake Arts & Book Festival is having to miss something else while enjoying another. You may be enjoying a discussion, like that on ‘Recollections of the Biafra-Nigeria War’ and forget Ummi Bukar’s documentary, ‘Uprooted’ is showing in the film hall. This film showed how the Boko Haram war in the northeast scattered many homes, and stories of families who waxed stronger instead of weaker.

In ‘Uprooted’, a woman who hardly knew work besides taking care of her children becomes a teacher to internally displaced children. Another becomes a trader, while yet another part of the Civilian Joint Task Force set up to protect communities from terrorists. But this isn’t all. The men learn how to support their wives and cook, clean and care for their children.

Another film, ‘Beyond Tolerance’ is centred around two young people, Ifagbenusola Popoola, born into a family of Babalawos and Ayinke Omidan Adefemi, recently initiated into Ifa and Osun practice. Both practice different forms of spiritualities rooted in their traditions.

There were others such as ‘An Untold Story of Slavery’ and ‘Swallow’, which explores challenges to food security resulting from our changing climate, inadequate infrastructure and traditional agricultural practices.

These were soon followed by discussion sessions where the filmmakers spoke about the inspiration behind their films and challenges they faced. Ummi Bukar discovered soon after embarking on the ‘Uprooted’ project that there were people out there in Nigeria’s northeast who had never had to tell their own stories because no one asked. So, they were only too glad to open up when the ‘Uprooted’ team came knocking.

Every discussion at Ake is like a collection of hastily written essays, every book chat like an unedited novella and every film show and discourse like a mixtape of rap, reggae and jazz. You cannot get all of it, and might not really get enough of it. I, for one look forward to next year.