This interview forms part of a series of features on artists who participated in our ‘Together for Our Planet’ initiative. The ‘Together for Our Planet’ exhibition and publication is a collaboration between Occhi Arts and Entertainment and Phoenix FTA Limited, a UK-based sustainability strategy consultancy. Inspired by the UK Creative Earth Competition, Occhi Arts and Entertainment, and Phoenix FTA Limited invited artists from around the world to creatively engage with key topics of concern at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow. The initiative provided artists with a renewed opportunity to visually express their views to world leaders and community stakeholders by producing 2D artwork. O Yemi Tubi is a Nigerian-born, USA-trained Artist, who resides in the UK. His paintings are influenced by the political and social climate of the world today. We had the pleasure to discuss his exhibition entry ‘Oil: Africans’ Wealth and Woes’.
Thank you for agreeing to catch up with Occhi Arts & Entertainment. Congratulations on your career to date. For readers who are unfamiliar with you and your work, how were you introduced to the arts?
I loved arts and crafts right from my primary school days. My A+ marks often gave me a higher grade point average when I was not doing well in other subjects, and to get much-needed pass marks to advance to the next classes. Since then, all I wanted to do is be an artist while other children wanted to be doctors or lawyers. When I was growing up, I did not have anyone as a role model for me as an artist. Arts are not common occupations like doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other common occupations in the 1960s where I grew up. I could not obtain admission to any university in Nigeria to study Arts because I did not study arts in secondary school. To study arts in Nigerian Universities you had to have to A+ or A grade secondary school certificate. I got two admissions to two colleges in the United States of America, based on the collections of artworks in my portfolio. I thank God for the opportunity to obtain my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in America. I was introduced to and learned about Renaissance artists that use works to illustrate Holy Bible stories in history class. I also learned of Individuals like French artist Eugène Delacroix (“Liberty Leading the People”) using their works to speak about the political and social upheavals of their world.
What was the emotional drive in becoming an artist?
I was working as a graphic artist since I finished my art degree because fine art is a very expensive venture, and it does not bring in regular income until one is recognised in the art world
“A work of art that did not begin in emotion is not art” so said Paul Cezanne; I was emotionally moved reading about the tragic death of a Tunisian man, Mohammed Bouazizi that set himself on fire for his humiliating treatment at the hands of the Tunisian’s police officers. His death ignited the uprising in the Arab world, and this provoked me to pick up my brushes to paint my first political painting “ARAB REVOLUTION” in 2012. “THE EAGLE HAS LANDED” was done to speak about the American-led war on terror. My painting “KABIYESI OBA OBAMA (Unquestionable King Obama)” was a political satire based on the love and hate relationship between President Obama and Donald Trump. “THE BLEEDING ROSE” was done in solidarity with Christians beheaded by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. I also used my painting “TRUMP’S CAGE.” To speak about the callous treatment and imprisonment of the migrant’s children. “UKRAINE: THE UNFORTUNATE BRIDE” speaks about America and Russia influenced the war in Ukraine.
What encouraged you to participate in the ‘COP26: Together For Our Planet’ exhibition?
COP26: Together For Our Planet’ exhibition was the perfect platform for me to exhibit my work and join my voice with the rest of the people that care about saving our planet from destruction by advocating that we need to change habits that cause Climate Change.
Please tell us more about your exhibition entry ‘Oil: Africans’ Wealth and Woes’ and how you felt during the creative process?
I felt and empathised for my people in the oil-rich part of Nigeria – the Ogoni people. Many Ogoni people died from air and water pollution. I was thinking about the environmental activist’s people like Ken Saro-wiwa that was hanged by Nigerian government in 1995 for their agitation against extreme environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping that laid many of their people farmlands waisted and rendered many of their youth jobless.
In this painting, I try to illustrate the paradoxical poverty and the riches of the life of people in the oil-rich part of Nigeria. I started from the top painting the sky with cyan blue and white colours which I will later go over with black and white colours to turn the beautiful sky to grey to reflect the polluted air produced by thick smoke emitting from the burst oil pipe from the far left of the painting. Under the polluted air, I painted a rusty-roof shack village to show the level of poverty of the people living in the oil-rich part of the country with some of the fishermen’s boats stationed idle at the bank of the oil-polluted river, and in the foreground are the children fetching water and drinking water from the polluted river.
How do you feel your involvement in the ‘Together For Our Planet’ initiative will impact your creative practice?
I hope my involvement in the ‘Together For Our Planet’ initiative will link me with environmental activist organizations and grant my works further recognition on the world stage.
What projects are you currently working on?
I just finished two paintings about the plight of people of Afghanistan living under the hegemony and the reign of terror of the Taliban government titled “Afghan Women with the Veil of Thorns” and “Afghan Men with the beard of Thorns.” I am currently working on the painting to welcome my first grandchild influenced picture of him in his father’s arms just a few hours old. The painting is titled “In My Father’s Arms.” (right)
Featured image: ‘Oil: Africans’ Wealth and Woes’ by O Yemi Tubi
For further information on the artist and the COP26: Together For Our Planet’ exhibition, visit the Occhi Contemporary Art website
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