ÌMÍ is Breath, an Ignition for Artistic Creation

By Segun Ade-Martins

Bursting to life a performance called the Offering started mid-afternoon on Saturday 21 January 2023 at the evergreen nexus of creative activity Mambaah Cafe in Maitama.

The ÌMÍ intensive lab accommodates multi-disciplinary creatives at a time when art programming is thin in Abuja.

This was the second edition of ÌMÍ and this edition’s theme is My voice is… It featured 30 creatives, many of which contributed to the Saturday performance with dance movements, singing, chants, thoughts and poetry.

The creatives were accommodated for 5 days from 16–21 January, sensing and responding to themselves. The aim? To focus, recalibrate, and inspire. The Offering is a performance extrapolated from the theme of My Voice is… explored in the lab.

Some participants collaborated by contributing video, photography, and installations. Mambaah Cafe could not have been a more perfect place for The Offering.

From the procession from the street into the compound, the performers pulsated fluidly through expressive movements following the steady hand of Oluwabukunmi Olukitibi, the convener of ÌMÍ.

She guided them through dances, performance poetry, and movements. The emotions were palpable as they touched on topical themes of their joys & pains in Nigeria’s geo-political climate.

Movements of note involved a cacophonous “air” group telephone call. The performers made repeated utterances in various mother tongues as their bodies intertwined into a singular mass.

Later another performer stood on a large condemned tractor tyre to announce her deep thoughts to the audience.

The audience witnessed another performer get his head shaved then went to chant what translates to, “let us do our own ‘thing’ and you can do your own ‘thing’,” in Yoruba. A phrase so loaded in meaning that could be interpreted in various contexts.

Then we witnessed a symbolic staged death. Then Oluwabukunmi chanted ominously, “take down Seyi’s installation,” a signal to end that phase of the performance.

Following her chants, the audience was swept from the open-air Nomad Tech Art Garden to the main courtyard at the heart of the dining area of Mambaah café. A place that has hosted numerous creative activities in the last few years that it has a magical creative energy enveloping it.

Pictures and videos were projected on a screen from parts of the 5-day ÌMÍ lab. The sun set on the performers as they continued more set pieces, which cast a warm aura on the event into the dark of the night.

The whole performance was poignant, beautiful, magical, abrupt, jarring, and deeply emotional. It serves as a reminder of living in Nigeria. Life here is hard, entertaining, frustrating, and intense, but exhilarating.

Perhaps, ÌMÍ reflects Nigeria and on a broader scale, West Africa because the participants are West Africans burdened with the reality of our condition. They cannot help but reflect the features of their reality in their work.

On another day, Oluwabukunmi adds more context to what the audience witnessed at the Offering. She likes to sit in between polarities and flow like lightning conducting to earthing rods. She is both concrete and ephemeral in many ways.

The ÌMÍ lab and its public output the Offering is her “ephemeral” gift to not only the creatives but also the Abuja public who witnessed the event. While Hearts Heartist Creative Centre, her organisation’s other programs such as the dance, fitness, and yoga classes as well as the community engagement and empowerment exercises are more of a “concrete” gift to society.

In general terms, a residency may not be new or unique but ÌMÍ is an outlet for multi-disciplinary creatives that gather to explore their process and participate in boisterous movement. Especially in January when art programming in Abuja is non-existent.

One can only wish the creatives that participated in ÌMÍ have either found their voice or are on a rewarding path to finding their voice. Being able to share something so intense has to be life changing by forming new bonds cross-country and cross-border too.

A clearly defined process is the glue to all the expressions of the Hearts Heartist Creative Center. The process of breathing and finding one’s voice as a creative is at the centre of her mission.

Apart from bonds with other participants, the participants can leave with focus and inspiration for their individual practice. Focus for those that were bursting with ideas and needed to distil their intentions through process. Inspiration for those who may have been feeling low as the beginning of the year has that effect for some. One can see ÌMÍ and the Hearts Heartist Creative Centre’s role as an energiser of creative energy. ÌMÍ is a great place if someone needs to find their breath and their creative voice.

First appeared in Thisday Newspaper Sunday, 19 February 2023

Originally published at http://thestrangejournal.wordpress.com on June 24, 2023.