The stark reality of Environmental degradation, oil exploration, poverty and neglect in the Niger Delta region last weekend again came to the fore as some artists through their paintings portrayed the challenges bedeviling the region.
The young artists – Destiny Osas; Chukwuma Eberechukwu; Emem David; Chidubem Ejiofor; Anita Onyemaechi – and operating under a Non-Governmental Organisation known as Arts Advocates, said they are dedicated to harnessing the power of art for social and environmental change.
At an arts exhibition titled: Arts4Resistance: Exposing the Impacts of Extratives on Communities in the Niger Delta Using Arts and Paintings, the young artists in their 20s said they are concerned on advocating justice for communities in the Niger Delta, a region, they said, has been deeply impacted by decades of environmental exploitation from oil extraction.
They said they are committed to using their artworks to
“bring to life the struggles and resilience of these communities through visual storytelling,” adding “we aim to foster empathy, awareness, and meaningful dialogue around issues of environmental and social justice.”
Throwing more light on the arts exhibition and their purpose of coming together, Coordinator of the group, Destiny Osas said: “We are using our work to depict the injust in the Niger Delta communities and her people. Oil extractions have been going on in the region for decades yet the people have nothing to show for it. Rather, their lives are being endangered by the day.
“Most of my paintings depict the injust and imbalance going on in the communities and in our society at large, of which solutions were given.
“My message in my artwork is, our leaders should try and communicate with the communities and the people before making any decision. They should stop imposing laws and structures that have no input of the people.”
On his part, Chukwuma Eberechukwu, who used his artwork to portray the environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region, said: “What brought us together are the issues of the Niger Delta caused by the extractive industries. So, this exhibition is a form of awareness, to tell the people things that happen in our everyday lives.
“We are compassionate about the suffering in the Niger Delta. So, our concern is how we can contribute to ease the pains of the Niger Delta people.
He said their artworks aimed at reducing, if not totally eradicated, the issue of environmental degradation in the region.
Anita Onyemaechi, who used her artworks to portray the level damage oil exploration has caused in the region, said, “on before now, people have been using all sorts of means including protest, writing to call for justice in the Niger Delta, but this form of protest is a quiet and peaceful means. We decided to use this means that even the illiterate can understand. This is visual arts. So, even if you are illiterate, you can easily be connected to it.
“We want the world to know that art can talk. Art, without much writing, is a language on its own. It speaks. And that is why the exhibition is here. We are advocating through arts, the suffering of the Niger Delta people. We are speaking in a language that is not written yet the most illiterate can understand.”
