By Gabriel Olawale

The Co-founder/Art director of Magic Carpet Studios, Chekwube Okonkwo, has unveiled his first graphic novel titled ‘The Playmaker’ and art exhibition in Lagos. This creative project according to the author is to exude black excellence which implies reviving the spirit of originality.
Speaking on his inspiration, Okonkwo said that ‘The Playmaker’ started as a weekly series on Instagram without expecting it will turn into a book in the long run.
“I’ve always been about African liberation, about our race and civilization as a people and subconsciously, I find myself always tilting in that direction in every creative endeavour I embark on.”
In the graphic novel, Okonkwo masterfully paints a poetic portrait of Africa through the eyes of a returning ‘offspring’. Deep in the Igbo heartland, Malcolm, the key character, experiences Africa in a way that leads him to deep understanding and an appreciation for “a meeting point between the supernatural and the natural world” He saw it, felt it, lived it, upset it.”
Corroborating his views, CEO/Founder, Magic Carpet Studio, Ferdinand Adimefe said: “The Playmaker is what we’ve always wanted, to create a quality of art where people can truly connect with what we have.”
“It’s exciting and fulfilling because we’ve been able to create a platform where African artists can find fulfillment and be empowered with the resources required to create great masterpiece art and even translate that skill into animation and make movies.
“When I was growing up, for you to globalise you have to westernise. But in this age of Africa, for you to globalise, you have to Africanise and the world is now looking to us; whether it’s Wakanda or Woman King, the age of Africa storytelling has come,” he said.
Co-founder, Social Media Week, Obi Asika, said: “it is storytelling that changes everything, makes you believe in yourself and thereby reawakens our creative consciousness.”
“That is what Afrobeats is about, we are expressing our natural essence through the music and when you start to do that in every other aspect of life like this author, we win,” Asika said.