A Nigerian artist has made history by holding a solo art exhibition in the Philippines, which is said to be the first ever solo art exposition in the country by a black artist.
The exhibition lasted for 3 days, February 10th-12th, 2019, and took place at the Shangri-La Plaza, undisputedly, the country’s most established upscale shopping and lifestyle destination.
Nwobu Emeka Johnbosco titled his art exhibition ‘Into The Future’, a display of 20 big size paintings and 21 miniatures.
Nwobu Emeka Johnbosco
‘’ I named it into the future because the term future is so vital to every human as there are many living beings without direction and idea on their life pursuit. Each of the artwork here are just different steps, different directions one can take to realize the future’’, said Emeka. ‘’This exhibition is geared towards helping my audience to see clearly the future through the stories on my paintings’’, he added.
Emeka’s painting
The exhibition was sponsored by the embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Philippines. Her Excellency, Ambassador Adekunbi Abibat Sonaike-Ayodeji of Nigeria cut the ribbon marking the official opening of the 3 days exposition.
Emeka and Ambassador Adekunbi
Responding to what made the Nigerian embassy to sponsor the event, Ambassador Adekunbi said:
‘’ The essence of coming as the representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not only to promote the bilateral relations between Nigeria and the Philippines but also about people to people. When you talk about people to people, you are also coming along with your culture. Emeka has something that he wants to disseminate concerning Nigeria that is required for average Filipino to know about.’’
Emeka’s painting
Commenting on Emeka’s artworks, Ambassador Adekunbi said:
‘’ Emeka represents Nigeria. He has depicted what is all about in Nigeria. His works also depict a brighter future for Nigeria. As the personal representative of the federal republic of Nigeria in the republic of the Philippines I am very happy to identify with the success of Emeka.’’
Aside from Ambassador Adekunbi, the event was also attended by other local dignitaries and attracted more than 100 participants from all walks of life.
Ejerly Lumbao, a 25-years old female civil engineer and one of the participants said to be very impressed by the exhibition and that Emeka’s works allow her to see the true face of Africa.
Emeka’s painting
Fraud and scam are the Nigerian imagery recognized worldwide. This creates in foreign shores like the Philippines, suspicion towards anybody claiming to be a Nigerian. For instance, based on that suspicion, in the Philippines, it is impossible to send money to Nigeria as banks and remittance agencies have all blacklisted Nigeria.
Like Ambassador Adekunbi, Emeka believes that, exposing the world to Nigerian culture and talents will offer Africans in general, and Nigerians in particular in the diaspora, a chance to be perceived without prejudices and preconceived ideas.
‘’ I believe that through my exhibition the Philippines and the world generally will see the difference. They will see that there are good Africans who are honest, hardworking, and good to the core and not to generalize people to be evil because of the color of their skin nor their continent.’’
MASSOCKI MA MASSOCKI