UK-based artist Polly Alakija unearths the art in the soon-to-be-phased-out popular Lagos commuter bus. Yinka Olatunbosun reports. Ten months ago, Lagosians witnessed the return of Molue, a mass transit bus on the verge of extinction. This was on the Island. Since then, it has been a common sight at every major art event in the city and beyond. It was indeed a mobile museum and there was no fear that Molue would return to streets.
But last weekend, another Molue, otherwise known as Freedom Molue, was unveiled at Quintessence, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos with fascinating graffiti executed by Polly Alakija. She was still painting when this reporter arrived. Alakija was sporting a pair of white linen trousers which had no noticeable stain from the massive painting job that had begun 10 days earlier. She said her job wasn’t done at the time of the encounter but all the images on the long bus made some sense. Young street dancers were at their game. But there was more to the painting as she later revealed.
Polly Alakija’s idea of Molue painting is quite noble. She has always had a series of painted objects, from Volkswagen Beetles to Caravan. There was a painted tricycle just opposite the Molue which had been produced since 2013. “This is the first amongst many. We could be more ambitious. There are certainly a lot of things in the pipeline and I won’t give that away right now,” she began. “Tomorrow, this bus will be going around Lagos. We have got a clearance from Lagos State government. We’d probably have a couple of celebrities aboard. We’d take pictures with the bus in iconic locations in Lagos like the National Arts Theatre, Marina, Mushin and other parts of the mainland and back to the new Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge. The start-off is here from mid-day,” she announced.
Alakija was also mindful of Nigeria’s centenary celebrations and in her view, painting symbolic and historical objects would be a very nice way of commemorating this. But her journey into painting did not start with the brush. She sometimes tapped into literary forms of art expressions to illustrate her thoughts. For instance, in “Remember 60” where she painted a timber truck, her chief concern was deforestation in Nigeria. “Nigeria has got the worst state of deforestation in the world and it is a completely ignored issue here. Looking at the statistics, I was horrified. Chima Nwokolo, a poet, gave me some words which I put at the background of the painting, right there on the truck. I am sure the owners would not know what had been done to the image of the timber truck.” For this Molue, the theme has been about freedom expressed through dance and drums. Alakija referenced excerpts from Olasupo Shasore’s new book, Possessed, which particularly intrigued her by an allusion to an episode of the attempted restriction of drumming in parts of the city because of the noise that drums make.
“The governor tried to restrict drumming but the people opposed this. It was not long before it was realised that Lagos was becoming unusually quiet because of the planned ban on drums. The professional drummers were out of work. So, the argument became ‘we need to drum. Drumming is part of who we are.’ The government had to clarify that they were not out to ban drumming but to restrict it,’’ she recalled, enjoying every bit of narration. Her bus painting turned out to be predominantly yellow. What she called the Eko Bridge Aso Oke was also painted on it. She explained that the peculiarity of the fabric borrows from its place in history. The holes that had tiny threads passing through replicated the bridge structure and it was the design of the 70s. “There was a time when a Molue had a terrible accident in Lagos. That fabric happened to be from the period of the 70s. This Molue is an iconic bus of the 70s and 80s in Nigeria. Then of course, if you live around that period in Lagos, you’d agree that was the peak period of Fela’s music and it captures the hustle-bustle of the city.
“I also went to the Freedom Park and I saw a group of dancers there put together by Shina Apaye. The group rehearsed every evening at the park and he had given the young ones something to do instead of getting into crime or trouble and that is really commendable because he had absolutely no support from any one. The idea of bringing that into the painting is to show that these dancers have that freedom of moving their bodies. That’d be represented also by the background text,” she said. The Molue was hired by the artist to carry out the project, which has a charity initiative. A certain percentage of the proceeds from the work will go into Eruobodo House, a charity foundation that helps creative children who are less privileged to reach their potentials. The pictures of the bus would be the art works that would be sold.
“All the pictures taken will be sold at affordable prices. Initially, the plan was to sell the Molue itself after the painting but I was not sure whether anyone would buy it. But now, people are asking how much I want to sell the Molue. I’d love to buy a Molue myself but then I don’t live in Lagos and when I return to the UK where will I put the Molue? My friends will not be happy with me if I put them in care of my bus and leave Nigeria. In an ideal world, I would hold on to the Molue and turn it into a travelling workshop. I’d take it around schools and it might happen one day. It should happen. I am certainly not saying that we must hold on to the Molue. Of course, Lagos State has to move forward and replace the Molue but we shouldn’t forget it.” The Molue, which depicts Sina Apaye’s “Parkhood Dancers” had text culled from Olasupo Shasore’s book, Possessed as a backdrop to the Molue image. The atmosphere of music and wine was supplied by Lagos Jazz Series and Noble Wines, respectively with lots of support from We Love Lagos team.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/for-the-molue-the-drums-roll-out/200072/
