Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FEAAN) -South West zone – recently commemorated its 15th anniversary with a major exhibition held at Nike Arts Gallery, Lekki, Lagos.
It also coincided with the International Women’s Day 2017 celebration that had ‘Be Bold for Change’ as theme. For the female artists also, the theme was ‘Women Arise,’ which situated women in the vanguard of social re-engineering for a better world order for their kind.
The event attracted art lovers from all walks of life, both locally and internationally. On display were over 100 art works from over 40 female artists. The works ranged from painting, sculpture, ceramics, textiles and fibre art that engaged the viewing pleasure of everyone present.
The two themes – ‘Be bold for change’ and ‘Women Arise’ – were evidently seen throughout most of the works on display, with each pointing to a particular issue pertaining to the womenfolk.
President of FEAAN, Mrs. Ngozi Akande, said with this year’s exhibition, the women took bold steps through their works to accelerate gender parity and ensure a more gender-inclusive world, adding, “Through our art works, we are speaking with one voice and demanding women inclusion in governance, zero tolerance against genital mutilation, cessation of violence against women and freedom for women to aspire to any position they want.”
Further Akande said: “We initiated this association when we realised that women, after getting married, are not able to continue producing art works. This platform provides them the opportunity to learn and be more productive. We also teach the younger women, and carry them along.”
According to her, FEAAN was growing by the day as more women were coming out to showcase their talent, noting; “Every year, they look forward to this event, producing works to fit the theme. Society of Nigeria Artists (SNA) has just a few women as members, who are active, and we thought having an exclusive women association would make it easier for them to participate.”
An art collector, who is widely believed to have the largest collection of Nigerian artworks, Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon, was also there to lend his voice. According to him, what the women had done was worth commending, and called on the Nigerian government to support and encourage the women, as their work might as well be the solution to the country’s staggering economy.
As he noted, “Art is very important to our country. We cannot compete with the outside world in technology as we are far behind. The art is where we have economic advantage and we must seize the opportunity to project ourselves to the world.”