By Prisca Sam-Duru
Founder and Creative Director of ‘ASIRI Magazine’, Nigeria’s foremost magazine that promotes Africa’s history with great archival and well researched contents, Oludamola Adebowale has been appointed as the Senior Curator for the Nigerian-Brazillian History Project.
His appointment is with immediate effect and is expected to work closely with the project coordinator and senior editors to further the depth, breadth and impact of the Nigerian -Brazilian Public History Project overall aims and objectives.
His research works with ASIRI Magazine have been featured in Top Colleges, Universities and Academic Institutions all over the world. He is a major contributor to the Arts and Culture pages of Guardian Life – the Sunday Magazine of Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper. His ground breaking articles on topics like Women Arise in the face of Misogyny: A Cultural and Historical Perspective; Jaja of Opobo: Rivers of Oil and Blood; Re-Discovering the Benin Art: A Universal Vessel for Cultural Importance; ÀBÍKÚ: A Thin Line that cuts between Tradition and Science, have been cited by Academic scholars within and outside Nigeria.
Oludamola was one of the few Nigerians selected for the Horniman Museums and Gardens (UK) for the #ThenandNow Nigeria at 60 Interrogative Project. As a Heritage Specialist, Oludamola’s work on the importance of language was cited in France info Africa, a major news website based in France on why Genevieve Nnaji’s ‘Lion Heart’ Movie was disqualified from the 2020 Oscars Selection.
As a curator, Oludamola has curated and produced high-profile Exhibition for the Ogun State Government, (African Drum Festival 2019), Timeless Memories Project for Prof. Wole Soyinka(2018,2019,2020), Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi, Terra Kulture Lagos, The British Council, Lagos Book and Art Festivals and lastly his latest project, Vintage Nigeria Digital Campaign (A Nigeria at 60 Archival Celebration of the Past Times), Collaboration with The Rockefeller Archive Center and Ford Foundation.
While speaking to journalists, Adebowale thanked the project coordinator for confirming his appointment assuring that a well-structured plan is already in place to help bring to fore the immense contributions of the Afro-Brazilian descendants in Nigeria and West Africa in general.
“For me, the appointment is a welcomed development”, Adebowale began, adding that “As a culture activist, historian and curator, I have dealt with numerous narratives about the Nigerian-Brazilian community; history in pre-colonial times and also created projects/ body of works on the subject-matter”.
The Nigerian-Brazilian Public History Project is an initiative that seeks to recover the extensive contributions of Afro-Brazilians and their descendants to Nigerian society since their arrival in West African communities from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The project will curate, archive and disseminate various aspects of social, cultural, religious, economic and political life of Nigerians of Afro-Brazilian descent to the transformation of Nigerian society in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial contexts.
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