By Elizabeth Uwandu

As one enters the gate of St. Pio Catholic church, Surulere, one will be greeted with two gigantic art works that depict Jesus and his disciples designed on the interiors of the walls of the church. The two creative works , carefully put together by an upcoming artist, Mr Valentine Ihemenwa are so monumental as it showcase the rich culture of Nigeria, and also promote unity among the heterogeneous groups.

The triumphant entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, one of the works by Valentine

The first is the piece which depicts Jesus and his disciples breaking Bread during the last super, while the second is the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, but one unique thing about the works is that the works showcase  Jesus and his disciples in black skin and in traditional attires depicting the real African nature of Jesus and his disciples.

According to the artist, the concept of Nigeria Last Supper is to change the stereotypical belief that anything from Africa and indeed Nigeria is not good; project the image of Africa that we blacks can be Christ  and lastly promote the idea of unity in diversity.

Unity in diversity

Ihemenwa said”  I wanted to show the world that we blacks can be Jesus , promote Nigerian culture through  the attire and dishes displayed n the painting . And  lastly, I wanted to pass the message of unity in diversity as you can see that all the ethnic groups in Nigeria are represented and they  all ate and drank together.

He further added that projecting Jesus black gives Africa and indeed Nigerians credit.

On the design of the Catholic church, Ihemenwa said that the recommendations he got from doing the Nigeria Last Supper in his home, Egbeada, Ubomiri in Imo state brought the job as someone who saw the work , liked it and told the priest about it.

Although, the Last Supper he did in the East suffered set back when he first brought the idea to do it with Christ and his disciples having black skin as it took his community two years of persuasion by Rev. Fr Vincent Orji to allow him do the Supper.

He said, “during those two years of waiting, community members accosted me on why I should think Christ as black man. However, when the work was completed the same people praised me.

So, the disputed Last Super I did in the East got recommended to the priest in Lagos, who saw the pictures and asked if I can do a replica of the last supper only that the Jesus this time will be white while the disciples will be black. Unlike the one I did where all the disciples including Jesus had  black skin in. So I had to do a design of the last supper and the triumphant entry at Jerusalem for the church.” the artist attested.

On his journey into sculpture, the sculpture graduate of Imo State University said he faced many challenges from the beginning up till his university days, his fathers rejection of the course, his teachers failure to register him  for WAEC examination and other challenges said he took a bold step which made him to succeed in the course.

The artist who has done other works such as Omalicha, Christ head, Money Christianity located in the theatre garden of Imo State University, lamented  on the absence of a strong national body such as the Society for Nigeria Artists ( SNA) in the East which he said, had made young artists not to be recognised and also make art lovers and business mogul to look outside for art collections.

The artist added that the absence of such a strong body has resulted in the exodus of artists from the East to places like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt where they are better appreciated. Hence, he plead for a strong body and patronage from art lovers as lots of rare talents are in the East.