By Onyeka Ezike

The Violet Foundation is an organization established to address the challenges faced by displaced persons and refugees across Africa, from Arts to humanitarian outreach.

The foundation recently launched a project with the theme “Floating Haven” at a press conference held at Alliance Française, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The Foundation has over the years leveraged creative platforms to uplift communities, raising awareness about critical social issues.

Speaking at the conference that unveiled the exhibition, the founder, Mr. Aize Mohammed, said the project was a vision derived from the Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya, as a beacon of hope, delivering critical resources such as food, education, healthcare, and shelter to vulnerable people, especially children.

He said, “I started working in Kenya in March. In Kenya, we have an artwork shop in the refugee camp where we teach them how to create and paint. About twelve of the artworks here are from refugees in Kenya and thirty-six artworks together, but some of the residential artists could not fly their works down here to Nigeria.

“As an artist, I felt that everything I do has to celebrate art because our project in the camp was centered on art, to see how we could turn their lives around using art because the refugees in the camp are human beings like us, they see like us, they eat like us and they create like us. They might seem helpless, but they need more assistance from us.”

The idea of the theme “Floating Haven” was to create a holistic view and a very safe space where people could come and have the feel of haven, not in heaven but close to haven. The foundation also launched an online platform where art enthusiasts can buy the floating haven artworks.

Also speaking, the co-curator, Mr. Taju Ibrahim, said the exhibition contains a mixture of works from the refugee children from Kakuma camp and some Nigerians. As a fashion designer, we had to partner to blend the artworks with some touch of fashion. 

“I have some of my special items that are one of a kind from my fashion brand on display. One interesting feature about this exhibition is that everyone is a master of their craft, and that got my attention to join and showcase my brand. We used harmful theater to showcase the color, showing the bright potential of art. Aize and I have been friends for over three years and I design all his outfits.”

According to the founder, the most challenging aspect of the exhibition was getting people to fund the idea, and the emotional aspect of being in the refugee camp, seeing young children suffer as refugees in Kakuma made him question the existing potential in Africa, as Africa is the most blessed continent.

Another challenge encountered was the ability to get African origins to sponsor and support the project, as it is heartbreaking considering the huge potential talents and resources that exist in Africa.

The Head of Marketing at Alliance Française said: “For us at Alliance Française working with Aize has been amazing because of his creativity and passion for art. He puts his all into any project he finds himself. We are always looking forward to working with him on any project.

“The floating haven project was not different, because when he came to us with the idea, we could plug into it, as we are also an art and culture center. We are happy to showcase art to art enthusiasts and people who will likely collaborate and push the mission behind this work together to be able to assist those refugees.

“It also helps us who were not there with Aize to have a feeling of what he saw in those people, the children. The art is just like a piece of the children’s personality. For us, being able to be part of this journey is an honorable thing, we are not just happy, but excited. We look forward to a lot of people buying the artwork.”

Mr. Eniola Teslim, the Curator said, the exhibition is not about the party but the humanity behind the untold story of the refugees in Kakuma camp in Kenya, as everyone has a story to tell as we sojourned in the path of life. Another part of the exhibition is the big artists coming together with the younger artists to partner and produce what we see here today.

The curator described some of the artworks and the messages behind them. One of the artworks shows a picture of a child alone in a camp. The artwork depicts life in the refugee camp as children from different parts of Africa, the adventure, food, and education in the camp. 

The 91 x 91cm inches artwork shows backward written names in an abstract form, which looks more like an akara ware, showcasing different names written backward. The story behind the artwork shows how we can express ourselves, not just in a particular way, but in different ways and forms.

Another artwork on display was the Wild Face Inner Beauty 4 feet by 36, with purple and green colors.

The message behind it is that no matter what you are doing, it is not all about your appearance, but what is inside you and what you are trying to communicate, hence it was titled Inner Beauty Wild Face.