It’s not every day you get a Mrs Josephine Oboh-Macleod of the creative world. She’s been on the art scene for 40 years, graced art galleries and exhibitions across the world with her works and has over 6,000 collections. So when she said it is the strongest tool to fight racism and classism, attention must be given to her words of art.

The United Kingdom, UK-based artist, photographer, activists and philanthropist told newsmen recently that one of her main missions as an artist is impress on all the importance of exhibiting African arts for Scotland’s cultural landscape.

According to Oboh-Macleod, “Scotland is becoming a cosmopolitan place. There are a lot of Africans now eager to identify with Scotland. So for the sake of these Africans, there is the need to do something that represents Africans within the landscape of Scotland. It will also encourage the Scottish people know more about Africa through arts, hence influencing the rest of the world at the same time.”

Asked how important art, especially African arts, was to the West, Oboh-Macleod said: “Art is the strongest weapon to reduce racism and classism. It makes you see yourselves as equals.” She added that African art was trending slowly in Scotland, but gradually becoming more popular. “They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with one footstep, and we have started that step,” she added.

Below are some of her works:

Josephine Oboh-Macleod, who also represents African artists in Scotland, is the first African to set up an African art gallery called “Timbuktu” in the United Kingdom and also one of the biggest female contemporary African art collectors in Scotland. But these landmarks did not come without challenges. Oboh-Macleod notes that getting African artists shown is hampered by space and the lack of government support.

She notes that “The people and the Lottery can’t do everything. If the Lottery is giving funding, then the government should give a space— there are so many run-down properties they could do up with a little funding, then say ‘OK, black Africans, you have this here, showcase your work’. We can do that with other Scottish people too. It doesn’t have to be only Africans. So funding and spaces; if we get those two we are good to go.”

READ ALSO: Chief Josephine Oboh-Macleod: Art creator, connoisseur, politician, activist

Another seminal thing the doyen of creatives addressed is what African art is: “Another issue to deal with is the expectations about what African art should look like. In my opinion, the perception of some people is that African art is going to be ugly before they even see it. But that is never the case. We just need to explain that there are different aspects to know about African art.

“You have art intended for a shrine where the intention is for us to be afraid of our ancestors, so the artist portrays fear. If after 500 years we are still afraid and say it is ugly, it means the artist has done what he intended to do. But when you look at other artworks, and they have streamlined faces like the bronze work in Benin in praise of the obas or iyobas. You find them handsome and very pleasing to the eyes.”

She is the Artistic Director at Johfrim Art and Design— an art exhibitor and seller based in Milngavie. Started in 2016, Johfrim hosts cross-cultural events and represents work by about 50 artists, approximately 70% of whom are from Africa. So when she speaks arts and culture, she does so as an authority. “I find that a lot of your Celtic symbols and colours are very similar to ones in Africa. Even the Scottish kilt: in Africa, during the ceremonies, men wear things like the kilt. Also, the bagpipes are similar to instrument used in some parts of Africa in the ancient days.”

On the innovation front, Josephine, also a painter and sculpture, believes that African artists need to be more experimental and for this reason she has added a new style to her work— Digital Art. She compiled some collections to be exhibited in September in Scotland. Part of her Digital Art collections for the exhibition is one on the politician Mabel Oboh, titled “Being Me”, a mixed work of digital media, photography, ink, acrylic and pastel.

Josephine Oboh-Macleod explained that after she started creating these new bodies of artworks, she decided to create this composite piece by merging various poses to tell a story about what she felt. The spirit from politician Mabel Oboh, she said, was “I am happier and happiest being me. It is an expression of freedom. Mabel Oboh gives out the aura of someone that cannot be boxed in. She is an expression of self-confidence.” She added that her creativity and self can never be taken away, a message she wants to send to her viewers— ‘Happiness is Free’.

Obviously, after four decades in the art scene, this icon is not slowing down. Instead, she reveals layer after layer of new dimensions to her personality and the creativity that is possible with arts and culture. Therein lays her ability to erase racial and social lines.

Vanguard News Nigeria