This spotlight features Uche Okpa-Iroha. He is a Nigerian visual artist who primarily adopts photography as his medium of artistic expression. He is a founding member of the Blackbox Collective and Invisible Borders Trans-African Organisation and in 2013, he founded and established The Nlele Institute, where he serves as Director. He is a two-time winner of the Seydou Keita Prize for photography, and he has also won the Jean-Paul Blachere prize.
What is your profession?
Visual Artist | Art & Culture Producer | Curator | Art Educator.
Can you share a brief bio?
A visual artist with interest in cinematic narratives and its relation to the transatlantic relocation/dislocation of Africans and the impact on the diasporic products. I am also interested in exploring the development of modes and theories surrounding representation and identity. They hold purpose and relevance for artists and scholars interrogating their societies in the 21st century. I am a two-time winner of the Grand Prix Seydou Keita Award for the Best Photography Creation at the Bamako Encounters in 2009 and 2015.
What time does your alarm go off?
My alarm goes off at 4.30am.
What do your mornings typically look like?
Quiet time studying the scriptures, school runs, gym and then scheduled meetings and pre-planned programs.
How did you get on this career path?
In 2005, I saw a photography exhibition by the Depth of Field Collective at the South London Gallery, Peckham, London. It was an epiphanic moment for me and I fell in love with the medium/form. The next day, I entered a shop at Tottenham Court Road, bought a camera and a tripod. Then the journey began.
Tell us what a typical day looks like?
When I’m not running a workshop or participating in one, I’m at home mostly reading and/or working on future projects. In my free time, I watch movies, and that’s how I get inspired to explore cinematic narratives. Aside from these, it’s all about spending time with family.
Can you share some of your most memorable moments?
When my son was born in Woodbridge, Virginia (2011) – I was in the room and experienced it all. God bless women!!! When I won my first and second Grand Prix Seydou Keita awards in Bamako in 2009 and 2015. My two years at the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam – One of the most prestigious art schools in the world!
We have to constantly question and interrogate it (Society). We have to ask who runs it and how it’s run. If not, we can’t change it. That’s why we need art. It’s essential, and it provokes questions that need answers. Society cannot change if we don’t shout!
What do you love most about what you do?
When I look at failure in the face and say – NEVER, YOU WILL NOT WIN. Also, seeing my wards and mentees doing well nationally, in the continent and internationally. That’s success for me.
What do you not like about what you do?
Bad energy, inconsistency in people you seem to trust and “mushroomism”.
What do you do after work?
Rest, read and have a glass of red wine.
And what do you do at the weekends?
When I’m invited to a party, I will go. Family things mostly. Sports.
Who in the creative industry (globally) inspires you and why?
Nigerian creatives and artists, we’re very resilient.
What does the societal change mean to you?
We have to constantly question and interrogate it (Society). We have to ask who runs it and how it’s run. If not, we can’t change it. That’s why we need art. It’s essential, and it provokes questions that need answers. Society cannot change if we don’t shout!
In your opinion, how can the creative industries contribute to social change/social cohesion/improve the Nigerian society?
We need a lot of collaborations to grow the sector. Individualism will not help us. The industry will continue to look good outside but on the inside remain stagnanted if we continue to operate the way we have been for the past two decades. We need to build synergies, alliances and networks that can help nurture the sector to global recognition, much more than what we have today.
If you were not doing what you are doing now, what career path would you be on?
I would have retired from playing for Real Madrid or Arsenal.
