Reterdeen Staff
In questioning whether art is dying in Nigeria, we will take a quick look at the status of our film, visual arts, books, Performances, and songs. Are they progressing or retrogressing? Without further ado, let’s check them out.
Film: Unarguably, Nollywood is the powerhouse of African movies and as attain tremendous growth over the years. 2018 was a remarkable year for our film industry. One of the greatest achievements of the year is Genevieve Nnaji, “Lions heart” which was bought by Global streaming platform Netflix.
The film industry is still very much alive and will continue to achieve the great feat for years to come.
Music: Globally, Nigerian music is now well-recognized thanks to Artist like Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Simi, Tiwa Savage etc. Nigeria’s music industry has made significant growth over the last two decades and is now the most active music sector in Africa.
Riding high and proud, the Nigeria music is still very much alive.
Visual Arts: Unlike the music and film industry, visual art is fading fast in Nigeria. The disdain on a parent face when their son or daughter walks up to them and tell them he or she wants to be an artist is a sight you wouldn’t want to see. Form the North, East, South, and West, Nigeria is country with expressive and beautiful art drawn from the inspiration of the traditional folklore of the region but sadly our visual art is dying.
Once upon a time, art like sculptures and paintings were greatly appreciated in Nigeria but in this modern time, many Nigerians tend to overlook art and fail to patronize the work of this artist.
Apart from the love of doing it, an artist hopes to sell its works but after months or years of no single sales, he/ she gets discouraged and will decide to drop his brush or relocate to a country were there are works will be appreciated
Literature: Nigerian literature has always been invested in the Nigerian experience, struggle and dream. Young talented writers are being encouraged and the internet has made things easy for writers and readers as it offers many platforms just like Okada Books were writers can self publish
their book and make sales.
Unlike Visual art which is fading away, literature is still waxing strong.
Performance Arts: Who still goes to to the theater to watch live drama? With the influx of entertaining movies being dished out every day, Nollywood as flushed away performance art down the drain.
Art, in general, is still much alive in Nigeria, but some sector of art – Visual art and Performance art are on an extended state of coma.
What do you think?
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