…begin with Egypt

The long awaited global tour of the Nigerian visual arts by the National Gallery of Arts will finally kick off this month in the two Egyptian cities of Cairo and Alexandra.

This development was made known in Abuja early in the week at a Media Press briefing addressed by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, Acting Director of the National Gallery of Art, Abudullahi Muku and Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Excellency, Sherif F.Naguib.

The plan of the  world tour round of Nigerian visual arts, which would have started last year became interrupted following internal crises that rocked the parastatal resulting in the delay or in some cases outright cancellation of most of its laudable programmes.

Interestingly, the palpable return of normalcy being enjoyed in the parastatal now under the leadership of Muku Abdulahhi is significantly manifesting in the number of programmes being undertaken by the new leadership in the bid to relaunching the gallery on its known glorious turf Among some of the programmes that the National Gallery has executed this year include; a tour of Nigerian art and artists to the New York Art Expo and the Dakar Art Biennial in Senegal.

 The Gallery was also part of the contingent that exhibited alongside the Nigerian Village in South Africa at the just concluded World Cup. Shortly before the World Cup Exhibition, the National Gallery was also in South Korea on the invitation of the South Korean Government.

The long awaited world tour of Nigerian art, tagged; Nigerian Visual Art World Tour, NAVITOUR  is conceptualised as a platform to re-launching the Nigerian artists and arts in the global visual art market; so that they can begin to key in beneficially into the emerging global visual art market.

According to NGA Director,” NAVITOUR is National Gallery of Art’s ground breaking exhibition aimed at providing platform for Nigerian Contemporary visual artists and their counterparts in other parts of the world to synergise and showcase their wealth of creativity to the world.”

Continuing he added that;” As custodians of the nation’s cultural heritage, National Gallery of Art is using the Nigerian Visual Art World Tour, NAVITOUR as a vehicle to propagate the treasures which generations past have handed to us to the rest of the world.

“The works on display are spread across all genres, ranging from painting to sculptures, textiles, ceramics and drawings executed in variety of styles, forms and techniques.”
Coming at a very timely moment as the Egyptians mark their  Egyptian Day; and also, in the year that Nigeria celebrates its golden Independence anniversary, NAVITOUR coming under the theme; Nigeria-Egypt: African Dialogue in Progress ;is also initiated to celebrate the cordial political and cultural relationships which the two countries have enjoyed and continue to enjoy over time.

To make to exhibition a historic one; efforts have been made to showcase some of the finest  representations of Nigerian contemporary art works in all media. This much was revealed by the Honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq; who said that “ NAVITOUR has the unique schedule that will capture both the momentum of the exhibits as well as our cultural values as a people.

“The exhibition includes close to 130 excellent paintings, sculptures and mixed media installations from our National collection, spanning over eight decades; 30 art works from 10 contemporary Nigerian artists and another 30 from contemporary Egyptian artists.” He said.

In his own contribution, the Chairman of Board of National Gallery of Art, Barr Peter Eze situated the exhibition within the economic context of the Federal Government’s search for an alternative economic driver for the nation. 

He said that “ The Nigerian Visual Art World Tour promises to be that catalyst, which will galvanise the Nigerian economy
into action and increase our Gross Domestic Product, GDP and will earn valuable foreign exchange for the Nation.”

Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E.Sherif Naguib told the media that the relationship between  his Embassy and the National Gallery has remained a cordial and commendable one. He cited a number of times that the NGA and the embassy have co- supported projects.

“ For the cultural relationship between Nigeria and Egypt, we are witnessing tremendous improvements. As you are aware, last year, we a had a visual art competition organised with the National Gallery of Art and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.” He said adding that the National Gallery also supported the visiting Egyptian Cultural Tourpe, which came for last year’s Abuja Carnival.

The exhibition, which begins in Cairo on the 25th of July will come to an end in Alexandra on August, 18.