A Blooming Flower In Rain Of Colours

Augustina Chinelo Obi, is an undergraduate of Fine & Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She is one of Nigeria’s upcoming talented female artists with great sense of creative artistic imagination, expected to make waves in the field of Fine Arts in the nearest future. In this brief interview with Mudiaga Adjekpagbon, she bares her mind about her artistic background and the potentials of Nigerian male and female artists.
What made you to choose to study fine art?
I chose to study Fine and Applied Arts because among other things, it is something I discovered I had a flair for, naturally.
Since when have you been drawing?
I cannot say that, just the way I cannot say when I began to walk. I think the person in the best position to answer that is my mother.
Did your parents support or oppose your desire to study Fine Art?
My parents supported me and they have always respected that dream in me. My father has this philosophy, ‘you can be anything you want to be, but you should be exceptional at it.’ He is my greatest critic; he watches me draw and sometimes asks, ‘why is it like this? Won’t it be better this way?’
You are a female painter, how many other female painters do you know in Nigeria?
Thank you for that question. There are a lot of female artists on the rise in Nigeria and even those who are renowned. Artists in Nigeria like Ngozi Akande, Nkechi Nwosu-Igbo, Zizi Cardow and many others are inspirations to upcoming Nigerian female artists.
Why are female painters not organising arts exhibition in Nigeria like their male counterparts?
There have been exhibitions by Nigerian painters and there are bodies like the Female Artists Association of Nigeria that organize exhibitions by female artists.
There are also no traces of female sculptors in Nigeria; men are more known as sculptors such as  Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya. Why is it so?
I beg to disagree with you in that regard. There are female sculptors in Nigeria, though it is the least treaded path. Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya is one of the founding fathers of contemporary Nigerian art. Ladi Kwali was one of the founding mothers. There are also upcoming female sculptors like Abutu Ene Mary, an exceptional artist.
Are male painters more talented than female painters in Nigeria?
No, I do not think so.
What do you hope to do after you finish your studies, would you open a studio or branch into any other area of human endeavour to make a living?
I am an artist and always will be. I could branch into the field of education, administration or any other area of human endeavour but then I would always practice as an artist.
Do you think Nigerian Fine Artists are rated high in the world?
Yes, I think so. Artists are always rated high in the world. I think an exceptional Nigerian Fine Artist would always be rated high anywhere.
Are you now engaged to any man, and is he encouraging you on your studies of Fine Art? No, I’m not.