3 Wole Soyinka exhibitions open throughout July
By Pelu Awofeso
The creative world is celebrating Nobel laureate, poet and dramatist Wole Soyinka this month. The past three weeks have been a carnival of events, including readings, colloquiums, lectures, stage productions and exhibitions, among other programmes — from Lagos to London.
The Africa Centre in London is currently hosting a 9-day fiesta in Soyinka’s honour. In Nigeria, the Soyinka season runs to the end of July. If you can make out the time, the following three exhibitions are worth seeing before the curtain drops.
- Wole Soyinka: An Impactful Life
The Wole Soyinka at 90 celebrations continue until the end of July. If you’ve missed any of the gatherings so far, check out the following — in Lagos, Abeokuta & Ibadan. 1. Wole Soyinka: An Impactful Life, at the Initiative for Information, Art and Culture Development in Nigeria (IACD), Ibadan (Beside Booksellers)
2. The Man Who Didn’t Die in the face of Tyranny
Soyinka was in solitary confinement for two years in the late 1960s and he wrote about it in his book, The Man Died. It is the inspiration for this multi-layered exhibition by Oludamola Adebowale, still on at the Freedom Park (Broad Street).
There is an audio installation here (from the curator’s recorded chat with Soyinka), a sort of soundtrack to the exhibition. But the heart of this show and perhaps the reason to go see the exhibition — is the recreated larger-than-life prison cell in a dimly-lit room.
3. I was glad to see that the venue for this exhibition in Abeokuta is the renovated June 12 Cultural Centre, a facility so underutilised. Opened on 12 July by Oba Adedotun Gbadebo (Okukenu IV), the Alake of Egbaland and curated by the Ogun State chapter of the Society of Nigerian Artists. There are more than 90 works here by mostly young artists.
