(Amatoritsero Ede in conversation with Victor Ehikhamenor)<\/em><\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n Amatoritsero Ede<\/b>. First, I want to thank you for giving MTLS audience despite the short notice and in spite of your very busy life.<\/p>\n Victor Ehikhamenor<\/b>: Thanks for contacting me.<\/p>\n A.E.: <\/b>You are mostly known as a visual artist, but you are also a poet, writer of creative non-fiction, photographer and journalist. Let me begin by asking: where do you get the energy for all these highly specialized activities.<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> I haven\u2019t written a poem in ages, so I don\u2019t know if I qualifier as a poet still. Anyway, coming to the point of having time and energy for these things, I just try to not expend my energy and time in things that wont enhance my work as an artist. Humans always find time for things they are passionate about. I happen to be very passionate about all the things you have mentioned above, so I create time for each. When you look at them deep enough, you realise they are interrelated at some point, and doing one also means doing all of them.<\/p>\n A.E.: <\/b>The quality of your exquisite artworks speaks for themselves, however your formal education was not in the Visual Arts; how did you domesticate the artist in you; please tell us about your development as one of the leading African visual artists of your generation.<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> I believe I was born an artist and to be surrounded with some of the best and wonderful traditional artist without the so-called \u201cformal education\u201d was the best nourishment for me. Seeing that I couldn\u2019t walk past a work of art without engaging it as a kid was a signal for me. When you continually do something, at some point you have no choice but to become at it. Not having a formal training in visual arts was once not my choice because we had no art teacher in my secondary school so I couldn\u2019t study it in the university, but when the opportunity came after I left Nigeria, I did not really see the need for it again. Apart from practicing art consistently, I have long ago formed the habit of reading and buying loads of art books from all over to know what\u2019s happening, including the artists in my country. There is still a lot to be learnt and developed, constant quest for knowledge helps with endless innovation in my field.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> Are there connections – by which I mean, cross-genre influences \u2013 between your work as, first an artist, and then a photographer and a writer?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> They weren\u2019t in the beginning, but the more I grow the more I realise that all have to work together to form a solid force in my creative output. My background as a writer influences how I title my artworks and write artist statements. In compositions, I deplore the same part of my brain when I writing, painting or photographing \u2013 how can I make the work interesting enough for someone to pay some attention to it. However, writing, painting and photographing is like having triplets \u2013 they may look alike but they have their individuality at the end of the day.<\/p>\n A.E.: <\/b>You have had exhibitions in the USA, UK, Nigeria and elsewhere; most recently at the London\u2019s Gallery of African Art between May 21 and July 19, 2014. What is the impact of this internationalisation on your praxis as a visual artist; for examples do you find yourself having to re-arrange an exhibition to suit a particular local audience?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> No, I don\u2019t paint to suit a market, I paint what I like. I paint what makes me happy or make me sad. I may choose to exhibit a certain style of work in scale because of the available scale or the message I want to put across, at the end of the day it will still be Victor Ehikhamenor written all over the work. A.E.:<\/b> Now you have done something I find unique for any contemporary artist; fusing visual art (design) and high fashion, itself an art of sorts. Tell us about this.<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> It\u2019s a tradition that has been on going actually even in Nigeria. There have been artists\/fashion designer collaborations. But I decided to work with Ituen Basi (the fashion designer) because I have been fascinated by what she has been doing with fabrics, be it ankara or her own Lagos fabric designs, she is innovative, so when the opportunity came for us to join forces, we knew we had to take the whole artist\/fashion designer collaboration to another level entirely. We took our collaborations beyond just slapping my patterns and paintings on a piece of fabric. We created live art out of the collaboration, whereby you actually see a walking art instead of someone just wearing a piece of cloth. What\u2019s most intriguing for me is her interpretation of my style, which Vogue Italia and other heavy weights in the fashion industry couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> If at all, how does transnational lived experiences impact your art or the business end of it?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> It cannot be underplay, the influence that is. It teaches one to do things with the international standard in mind. You can possibly see a well put together show outside the country and not try to make sure you do the same here. Also we have to look at work ethics as well and dedication to what one believes in. As for the business aspect of things, Nigeria has it\u2019s own set of rules, bend them too far and you end up with unexpected result.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> What political or philosophical considerations underpin your work \u2013 either as artist, photographer or writer (think about the nonfiction collection, Excuse Me!)?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> Memory and nostalgia come to mind. That got me feeling that we have so much resources that should not constantly be squandered or totally wiped out and be replaced with something too foreign beyond our own understanding. Nigeria has been saddled with the worst intolerable leaders who don\u2019t pay attention to the importance of culture as a national value that must be nurtured and protected. As long as the oil pipes are flowing, everything else can go to blazes. So I deal mostly with making sure we don\u2019t forget where we are coming from by borrowing a lot from my community as a child, where art was pure and respected. When it comes to writing, the politics in my work become more immediate and caustic, because of the endless in-your-face corrupt impunity of the ruling class.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> Clich\u00e9 as it might sound, but where do you draw inspiration?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> From memory and my immediate environment. I am also driven by the idea that I must be able to positively influence my generation and the next one, even if it is only one person.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> If you were to be commissioned to freely produce a work of art which makes use of all your artistic talents and skills \u2013 writing, photography, painting and installation art, what would that art work be like?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> It will have Victor Ehikhamenor written all over it.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> You have designed a lot of book covers for the works of African writers and scholars alike such as Maik Nwosu, Obi Nwakanma, Chimamanda Adichie, Molara Wood and, for the African Caine Prize\u2019s 8th<\/span><\/sup><\/span> Anniversary anthology, Under the Jambula Tree<\/i> <\/i>and so on. What do you do differently or what do you consider in designing a book cover?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> I see the book cover as another canvas, a collaboration between text and visuals. Book cover has the same impotence to me as a wedding gown. I consider every book as an artwork that will be moving from one gallery to another or from museum to museum. I take my time because I consider it an honour whenever a fellow writer considers my artwork for their cover or ask me to design the cover itself. In my village when a king abdicates the right to you to break a kola nut in a major event, you better do it right. The writers who ask me to design their covers are the kings and queens.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> This might sound unfair. But of all the forms that compete for your attention which artistic preoccupation is closer to your heart?<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> Yes, it is an unfair question! Art has to be the mistress, the ever exciting muse that keeps me on my toes wherever I am.<\/p>\n A.E.:<\/b> Once again we will like to thank you for taking the time to have a chat with us.<\/p>\n V.E.:<\/b> Thank you sir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The \u2018Natural\u2019 Artist (Amatoritsero Ede in conversation with Victor Ehikhamenor) Amatoritsero Ede. First, I want to thank you for giving MTLS audience despite the short notice and in spite of your very busy life. Victor Ehikhamenor: Thanks for contacting me. A.E.: You are mostly known as a visual artist, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1709,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-326","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2198,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/326\/revisions\/2198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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