By Japhet Davidson

THE last Sunday of January every year is celebrated as World Leprosy Day and to commemorate the event, documentary artist and photographer, Washington Uba, held an exhibition tagged Leprosy Story Board, which examines the plight of people affected with leprosy at the Parliament Bar, Red Street, Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos.

The exhibition which was attended by many art lovers and fans of Washington Uba opened on January 26, which was the world Leprosy day and ended on February 2nd 2020. It featured about 18 campaign frames.

According to the artist, the aim of the event was to raise awareness about the disease which many people believed had been eradicated and a call to end stigmatisation of the people with leprosy.

As one enters the venue, one will be greeted with campaign boards that bear statements about leprosy. A situation that propelled the writer to ask why there were no images and the artist replied. “This year I decided not to come out with the images rather with what I called the storyboard because we have been so choked with the images. We are supposed to look at ways of solving it as the images increase the stigma that people attach to it.”

“There are 18 frames in all 114 feet of the storyboard that contains different information about leprosy and solutions. There is something different from it from any other poster campaign, it has a human interface where the guest autograph and make a commitment to tell a friend about leprosy.

“The whole idea is advancement of humanity using art. I have been able to raise funds through my art. According to WHO there are about 22000 leprosy patients annually, and the record is for those that go for diagnosis”, he added.

Speaking about his involvement in the project, Uba said: “We want people to realise that these people are also humans created in the image of God like every other person and should not be abandoned. If we cannot care for people in disadvantaged situations, then we do not love God, because these people are images of God in different shades, the exact same way we are images of God.

“I started these documentary work, because I wanted the world, especially Nigeria, which is our immediate environment, to know that leprosy sufferers should not be abandoned. So, the aim is to tell their stories. All my life, I have always worked for charity and it led me to photography. I go to the less privileged and vulnerable people, take their pictures and use them as a medium of expression.

“In 2010, I decided to narrow it down because it was a broad spectrum of my documentation. The vulnerable and extreme poor was my focus, raising fund and creating awareness as regards their plight. Actually, my idea of charity is to take care of the lowest in the ladder.

“In that year, I figured out that leprosy-affected people were the worst hit and least abandoned so I decided to devout my energy and time to document it, knowing what to do with my art as a medium. I started going from colony to colony to know why it is like that, I documented leprosy colony across Nigeria for seven years (2010 -2017).

“In 2019, I had my first exhibition on leprosy which I now do annually on world leprosy day which is the last Sunday of January.”

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On support from the government: “I have not had any support from the government or any health organisations, it has been myself and siblings. Another way is through the sale of my artworks and some donations from people which we send to destitute homes.

“Government owe them a duty to take care of those affected with leprosy. The health ministry has a task to take care of the colonies, but they have not done any tangible thing to ameliorate their plight. It is only the missionaries, the Methodist Church Nigeria, they are the ones managing the Leprosy settlement at Uzuakoli in Abia state.”

On the success of the exhibition, “it has been interesting and mind-blowing. There has been questions and misconceptions about it. Many think that it is an old disease and that it no longer exists and other fallacies and misconceptions about it. Within this period of the exhibition, we made sure that people leave with the right notion.
“Its been a huge success, we have been applauded and that is our little way of lending our voice to the course. You know its no longer art for arts sake, it is using art to make a statement”.

Vanguard