"If there is any artwork I have created that singularly provides an all-inclusive summary of my thoughts and observation on post-colonial Nigeria's socio-cultural and political satire conjured by corrupt Nigerian leaders with their attitude to its constitution, policies and people, it is the installation cleverly called 'Trickle Down Politics'." These were my thoughts and intentions half way through completing this project. In my head was anger and ridicule for the government's attitude. But
many things change, thoughts evolve and ideas morph into other ideas, as it is true what is said of time and its influence on change.
Eight years ago, I moved into a new building in a newly developed estate close to the [Lagos] lagoon. The view from my back windows upstairs I thought was calming and peaceful, with a stream finding its way through a few trees and patches of grass to the lagoon. A six feet tall fence separated my yard from the scenery and I could only enjoy it from the back rooms upstairs. Everything was perfect until I sat by the open window for more than five minutes. The first man came, pulled down his trousers and defecated right there in full view from my window, with no care that we made eye contact. Then another joined. And then another joined. The morning breeze came with such unbearable unpleasant smells that I thought I had to do something about it. From the window upstairs I yelled down at a man in the squatting position, "Oga, I beg, no shit there!"
"If I no shit here, na where I for shit?" he responded.
"Go shit for ya toilet na!" I countered.
"I dey shit here for many years before you come. If you no want see shit, close ya window!" he carried on his business.
To another I pled, " Oga, I beg no shit for there."
"Na for ya compound I dey shit? If you talk again I go throw this shit for your house." His threat worked and I closed my windows. This continued for several years and I resorted to photographing these people in my spare time and used the images in an article I had written called 'Sons Of Adamu'.
I knew there was still so much I had to resolve with this particular experience, the experience of total disregard for anyone else or for decency.
It is a popular joke in Nigeria (which is ironically true in reality) that if you want to deter people from urinating on your property you have to post a sign that says 'Please Urinate Here'. Civil disobedience is ingrained in the Nigerian culture but not in a way of protesting against objectionable laws and policies but of reckless abandonment of laws and policies in a way that has become part of a way of life.
During the first tenure of governor Fashola of Lagos State, the governor declared urinating and defecating in public spaces illegal and punishable. Public toilets were built and subsequently locked up so they could remain clean. A very public figure, who had been sitting in a traffic jam on the Carter Bridge got out of his car to relieve himself, slipped and then fell to his death. He was a hundred meters from a locked up toilet. Like everything else, the governor's declaration was soon forgotten as even the assigned law enforcers relieved themselves on the highways too.
By mid-2012, my frustration for the public's general reckless disregard for all considerations and decency had peaked and this project was started. The [ further] occurrences of [the] two years it took to complete the project greatly influenced the results. During these two years, Nigeria experienced 'the disregard of human life by the Boko haram terrorist group', 'the disregard of the human rights of the girl child by the senators who included in the constitution that a girl had become of age once she is married', 'the disregard of pensioner's claim to their retirement packages by banking officials', 'the disregard of the well-being of The People by Mr. President', the list goes on. With each experience of disregard, my reasons for creating this body of work changed. And as the 'why' changed the title of work changed too. Its first title was 'Civil Disobedience', then 'Trickle Down Politics', and after the work was finished and new things happen, it means something different to me. But the core of it remains the same, a portrayal of disregard.
Work title: "Trickle Down Politics". Size: In installed state- 180inches in length, 36inches in depth, 90inches in height . Wall components is in 3 panels of 60inches by 90inches each. Floor components in 6 free-standing, life-size pieces of 24inches by 24 inches base size each. . Medium: Epoxy resins, plaster-of-paris, acrylic paints on canvas and plywood. Year of production: 2012 – 2014."
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