INTERVIEW WITH OLUWADEMILADE ADETULA

 

What is your background? How does it inform your art?

My name is Adetula Oluwademilade. I was born on the 26th of August, 2002. I am an undergraduate of creative arts at the university.

I am a visual (abstract) artist and applied (textile) artist. I am also a poet, voice actor and basketballer.

I have been playing basketball since 2014 when I was in junior secondary school one. I began playing basketball professionally after secondary school. 

I have been creating abstract and textile art since I was in senior secondary school one. 

I began writing poetry in 2020. My voice acting career took off after I joined the League of Voice Actors of Nigeria in 2020.

Art runs in my family. My mother is a drummer, singer, songwriter, disc jockey and nonfiction writer while my father is a public relations executive whose work involves a lot of writing and public speaking.

My late maternal grandmother was also a textile artist and she majored on adire, batik and woven designs. She was also an art illustrator, fashion designer, jewelry designer, dancer, pianist and violinist. 

Also, I have grand aunties, aunties and uncles who are into jewelry designing, fashion designing, textile designing, makeup artistry and other forms of art.

What type of art do you consume?

I consume different types of art like music (afrobeat, afropop, hip-pop, pop), drama (comedy, romantic, tragic-comedy), dance and painting. All of these art forms form the basis of my ideas.

Who/what are your most important artistic influences? 

I get influenced by my culture, community and personal life.

What type of art do you create and what motivates you to make it?

The types of art that I create are visual art with focus on abstract art and applied art with focus on textile art. 

The motivation to create these art comes from my observation of the Yoruba and pop cultures. I progressed from the traditional indigo adire colour into different colours and modern attires starting with T-shirts.

My motivation also comes from what I see, hear and feel.

What materials, processes, techniques, etc., do you use to create your artwork?

The textile design (tie-dye) which I currently focus on, is one which involves many materials, processes and techniques. The bases of my textile art are my design, dye, fabric and chemicals. Other materials include, buckets, kettle, stick, table spoon, board, raffia, etc.

My materials, processes and techniques are my trade secrets *winks*.

Is there a connection between your message and the way you make your art? 

Yes, there is. My art portrays self-confidence, truth, integrity and justice.

What is your artwork exploring, underneath everything? 

My art is exploring the passage of time, political and social issues, pop culture and mental health.

What do people need to know about you, about how you think and why you create to understand and appreciate your artwork?

I need people to know that I do not just do art for fun. I create art because I have the talent for it, it is therapeutic and it is financially rewarding.

What are you besides an artist?

I am a dedicated basketball player.

How do you define your role in life? 

My role is life is to let the world feel the positivity that I bring.

How do you make your living? 

I make a living from my:

1. Abstract Art

2. Textile Art

3. Poetry

4. Voice Acting

5. Basketball Playing

How do you seek opportunities?

I seek for opportunities via the internet and market my art and products on social media and via word of mouth. 

What are your most important relationships? 

Currently, my most important relationships are with my nuclear family which consists of my mother, father and two brothers.

How does art-making impact other parts of your life?

Art has made me to be self-employed, busy, emotionally and mentally balanced, business savvy and free from peer influence.

How do you define success as an artist? 

For me, success as an artist begins when I gain respect for the work that I do, grow financially and get continuous satisfaction from what I create and its perception by my customers.

What do you hope to accomplish in life?

I hope to accomplish bigger rewards due to the hard work that I put in everything that I do.

What is the general comment about your work?

The general comment about my work is that I am good and I must be better.

What are your future plans for your business? 

I hope to break into new grounds with respect to my textile art. 

I hope to create abstract art for exhibitions.

I hope to publish my anthology of poems.

I look forward to taking on voice acting jobs.

I look forward to getting drafted into the Nigerian Basketball Association.

SADIST SARS or is it SWAT?

I have scars on my mind and hind from SARS;

Criminals who think they are chasing criminals.

Theirs is the way of barbaric animals,

Bribery and killing is their main game.

Protecting the people?

They have lost that aim.

Locking up the innocent behind bars,

Giving them psychological scars.

What have we done to deserve this?

We were not born for this.

Never call us your friend,

For that is a big lie

Never! 

On your promises,

We can never rely.

 

SARS or SWAT?

None should ever be.

Pouring new wine into old skin bags will only burst the nation's bubble.

Did I burst your bubble?

Children of our leaders will eat of this,

If they cannot put a stop to this.

Being the gluttonous shark is your aim,

Eating all at sea is your game.

 

We knock on the ears of our leaders,

But they play deaf to our pleas,

They play dumb to our pain,

Our cries seem to be in vain.

Our sorrows they mock,

Our poor plight, 

They make no effort to put to an end

But we the Nigerian youths will put an end 

To using us as a means to an end.

We are the monsters your sadism has made.

© Oluwademilade Adetula 2020

Kindly follow Oluwademilade Adetula on social media:

Facebook: @demidetula

Instagram: @demidetula.ng

Why Creatives Commit Suicide

Often times, creatives like musicians, writers, artists and other originative individuals are perceived to be weird because of their artistic creations, their mode of dressing and their mannerisms.

These set of ingenious people are considered to be abnormal because they believe in their art even though it does not seem to make sense and have an eccentric way of reasoning.

The average creative generates his own philosophy or adopts that of another philosopher whom he adores.

These philosophies may or may not resonate with the right thinking members of the society.

This is why a lot of these creatives have formulated reasons and ideologies why some matters considered as the norm are abnormal for them.

For example, a lot of creatives have considered themselves to be either gays or lesbians or transgenders or queers.

This is the era of 'coming out' and actors, actresses, sport celebrities are making this 'norm' trend because their fans adore them and whatever they do can never be wrong.

Some set of creatives usually inclusive of the above set, believe that God does not exist. They refer to themselves as atheists. Usually, they have 'solid' reasons to back up their claims.

Often times, the 'normal' human being does not understand the way the mind of a creative works. So, the 'normal' gets at logger heads with the 'abnormal' and friction arises.

The 'normal' does not understand for example, why the 'abnormal' wants to resign from a well paid employment to earn peanuts as a creative (Poverty usually exists at the initial stage of a creative career).

The 'normal' does understand why the 'abnormal' wants to wear dreadlocks, tattoos and piercings and dress weird when he can simply wear a tie and tuck in his shirt.

Thus, the crossroads of both classes of people bring friction and the 'abnormal' feels misunderstood and becomes frustrated and indulges in drugs, sex, alcohol for inspiration and may eventually get depressed and commit suicide.

Unfortunately, many creatives live a life of penury and become successful after they commit suicide or die from a rough lifestyle.

I will be writing about the lives of two creatives; a writer and an artist.

CHUKUEMEKA AKACHI

The light of a young final year English and Literary Studies student of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka dimmed after he committed suicide in May.

It was reported that Akachi was a first class student of this university before his death.

He wrote a suicide note on his Facebook wall on Monday, May 13, 2019. It reads;

Forgive me. In case you are the one who found the body, I am really sorry. It had to be someone, you know. I have chosen Jo Nketaih’s poem as my suicide note: “They said you came looking for me. I didn’t drown; I was the water.” Where do atheists go to when they die? lol. Amen.

On May 12, he wrote; 

My mental health has been on life support for a while now. Thanks to those who call. Text. Visit. Speak to me. May we always remember. May we never forget. You may have added a few hours, months or days to my time here. But you know life support is expensive right? Thanks for trying. Amen.

There are other depressive posts on his wall which signifies that he had been suffering from depression for a long time before he decided to take a plunge.

An eyewitness said that Akachi went to an uncompleted building on Sullivan Road, Nsukka where he drank two bottles of Sniper and slipped into a coma.

Furthermore, the eye witness said that the deceased was discovered by some passersby who reportedly saw him in a state of coma.

He said that the people, mainly students, raised an alarm before he was rushed to the University of Nigeria Federal Medical Centre.

A senior security personnel said that it was not the first time Akachi had tried to commit suicide.

According to him, on two occasions, Akachi drank kerosene and petrol to kill himself but was rescued.

Akachi was later moved to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla Enugu, where he was confirmed dead.

Probably Akachi was under pressure to keep his first-class grades.

Probably, he was upset about not finding success in his writing career or he was scared of what the future held with respect to his writing career.

Probably he got scorned and laughed at for even admitting to having depression and suicidal thoughts.

Probably he did not know where to seek help for depression and suicidal thoughts.

Probably he was curious to know what the afterlife felt like.

Well, we will never know.

All I know is that Akachi became a superstar soon after his death as millions keep on clicking on his poetry, essays and Facebook posts.

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Vincent Van Gogh, who lived between March 1853 – 29 July 1890, was a Dutch post-impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. 

In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits and are characterized by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. 

He was not commercially successful and his suicide at thirty-seven followed years of mental illness and poverty.

Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful. 

As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. 

He turned to religion and spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. 

His younger brother Theo supported him financially and the two kept up a long correspondence by letter. 

His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguished his later work. 

In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. 

As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes. 

His paintings grew brighter in colour as he developed a style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in the south of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include a series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.

Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. 

His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he severed part of his own left ear. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. 

After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homoeopathic doctor, Paul Gachet. 

His depression continued and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a Lefaucheux revolver. He died from his injuries two days later.

Van Gogh was unsuccessful during his lifetime and was considered a madman and a failure. 

He became famous after his suicide and exists in the public imagination as the quintessential misunderstood genius, the artist "where discourses on madness and creativity converge". 

His reputation began to grow in the early 20th century as elements of his painting style came to be incorporated by the Fauves and German Expressionists. 

He attained widespread critical, commercial and popular success over the ensuing decades and is remembered as an important but tragic painter, whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. 

Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings to have ever sold at auction and his legacy is honoured by a museum in his name, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.

To the 'normal', know that creatives are restless beings. They can think of ten ideas at the same time. 

As long as they are not violating your space, let them be.

The 'abnormals' should endeavour to think positively at all times.

Care less about those who do not understand your art. Be rest assured that a lot of the 'normals' actually do.

When we feel depressed and suicidal, we can consult psychiatrists to help us overcome our mental weaknesses.

The world needs us and our art to become a better place.

Stop killing yourselves.

People living with people going through depression should not mock them or tell them to pray or get a grip on themselves.

It is not an easy feat. They cannot get a grip of themselves nor pray for themselves just at the snap of your fingers.

Depression is an illness that affects the brain. It does not make the brain function at its maximum capacity.

Depressed and suicidal people need you to shut up and listen to what they have to say.

Judging them will only make them feel worse. 

'Normal' people, please, allow 'abnormal' creatives to be themselves. We are simply wired to be different.

A problem shared is half solved. 

Cheers!