Mark your Calendar...

P.A.G.E.S and CCA,Lagos continue their innovative programme of bringing the Visual and Literary Arts into dialogue. This Saturday (November 21) is going to be an interesting one at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos as Teju Cole  the author of Everyday is for the Thief - a novel set in Lagos, and Jumoke Verissimo, the author I am Memory - a poetry collection engage 12 artists in a video art exhibition at CCA,Lagos.

The writers' books will be available for sale at the CCA. This is equally an opportunity to see the current exhibition which is called Identity:An Imagined State, a video art exhibition featuring the works of Nigerian,African & South American artists. It was curated by Jude Anogwih and Oyinda Fakeye

Time: 2pm. 

So see you at CCA (9, McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos)

There's also Yoruba Romance

A new play titled Yoruba Romance by Tyrone Terrence-an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's A Marriage Proposal. 

Venue: The MUSON centre’s Agip Recital Hall

Date: Sunday, November 22

Time: 6pm

Gate: N5,000

Driver's Dexterity: an exhibition of photographs by George Osodi

The African Artists' Foundation (AAF) in collaboration with The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) presents: Driver's Dexterity an exhibition of photographs by George Osodi.

Venue: The Lagos Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Opp. 1004 Flats, Victoria Island, Lagos

Date and time: 26th November, 2009, 6pm

Who is George Oshodi?

George Osodi is a London-based photographer and artist who has spent most of his time traveling on Nigerian roads. He has captured images of the various landscapes and peoples living in different parts of Nigeria. George has also documented various social and topical issues using photography. Having trained as a photojournalist, George has an eye for a story. The story he tells now is one of intervention and faith. He captures the dramatic in an artistic, even romantic fashion. These are tales of hope and survival, bravery and bewildering actions, stereotypes and attitudes to life.

George explains: “Driver's Dexterity is a body of work, which takes on a more conceptual form than my previous documentary works. ...I explore the vulnerability of life as a contrast to the tragic beauty of the landscapes"

Have your say...

I was at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Yaba on Saturday for the PAGES event for the month of March. It was tagged: The World is Flat. Are you shaking your head in question of the title? Yes, it was the title that also nursed my decision to make it for the event, I wanted to know, how come again that the world is flat?

Okay for those who don’t know, here’s a little background into PAGES. It is a monthly event hosted by CCA with the aim of understanding our world and ourselves better through the arts. Usually, there is a convergence of art in diverse forms: painting, literature, map making, photography with the aim of  giving literary interpretation to the works on exhibition. The event had an ‘okay’ audience for an art event; to think that it was not featuring any of Nigeria’s young music artists (my opinion) that's what attracts 'Naija' youth, am I lying?

It was an opportunity to see the world from a new perspective and take brief lessons in architecture, cartography, history, literature  and also set me thinking about the process of writing.

Johanne, the curator of the exhibition introduced the theme of the exhibition and answered questions from a very inquisitive audience; there was a book reading and discussion from Onyeka Nwelue’s novel The Abyssinian Boy.

The the questions started sprouting from all corners: What is  the place of knowledge about a setting in the making of a work of literature? Where does reality stop and idealism begin? Does a writer need to have a perfect knowledge of the place that he/she is writing about? If yes, how was JK Rowlings able to write her best-selling Harry Potter series? If yes, how was Chimamanda Adichie able to pull off an Orange prize-winning Half of a Yellow Sun which is about the Nigerian civil war when she was not a part of the war? 

If no, how does a writer stay true to describing what a place is like at any point in time, bearing in mind that places change? If no, where is the place of creativity even when making fiction  out of reality?

What is your take?