Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Artist whose work explores cultural identity, post-colonialism and globalisation, often with a vivid, subversive, tragicomic presence.
On the island
Eight records
I must have been, you know, possibly about ten or eleven and I heard this for the first time on Soul Train and I just could not stop dancing. Her tracks are just so funky.
Well, I chose this because this very much reminds me of my childhood in Nigeria and I'm bilingual, so he sings in Yoruba, and I just like the mixture of a traditional African drums with the guitar and also the Yoruba language, and this just pure nostalgia for me.
This is my boy Lollipop. And this reminds me of my mother, because this is from my mother's record collection. And my mother had this, you know, singer sewing machine. And she used to make her her own clothes and cut her own patterns. And she also had a lot of fashion magazines. And I also l used to look at all the fashions in the magazine. And I just remember the song being in the background.
This is somebody that my parents did not approve of at all. I mean, this is Felakuti. And Felakuti had 27 wives. He challenged the establishment and he challenged authority. He also encouraged the smoking of marijuana and there was no way my parents would have approved of anything like that. But because my parents didn't approve of him, I really loved him.
Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud
This uh is the godfather of Seoul, James Brown, and um James Brown is just too funky.
Oh, this is Compared to What by Les McCann and Eddie Harris, and I just find it absolutely compelling.
Addio del passato (from La Traviata)
This is um the first time I actually listened to opera attentively because I always felt the melancholy of opera, which I was later to find cathartic as an older person. As a younger person, I just wanted to dance and I didn't want anything sad in my life. But then actually as I matured and a girlfriend actually introduced me to opera for the first time. Of course I always had it in the background, but I just thought it was old people's music. But when I saw Trivieta and particularly this area, I just couldn't get it off my head. And there's something very uplifting in the kind of pathos of the opera.
What's Going OnFavourite
This is uh Marvin Gaye, What's Going On and at the moment there are a number of conflicts around the world and this song continues to be relevant. It's political, it's about conflict, but it's also about trying to resolve conflict.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:33What do you mean by beautiful and dark art?
The world is so complex and of course it's easy to be angry and it's easy to you know wear that anger on the outside, but I think it's best to produce work that will make people think, that will make people engage with what you're trying to do. I believe in the idea of the Trojan horse. So I like being uh subversive, but I like doing it in a subtle way and I like being in places where I'm not meant to be and then I can kind of challenge people, but I don't want the art to appear aggressive or confrontational.
Presenter asks
4:17How much do you want people when they are looking at your art? How much do you want them to feel and how much do you want them to think? Would you rather have one above the other?
I mean, I think I want both. In my own life, I would actually go as far as to say that the art itself saved me because when I was ill and I was in hospital, it was a form of therapy when I was coming into recovery. It was also a way in which I could transform the world in my own way. I could also create impossible realms, you know, things I might not be able to do, I could sort of travel through the art.
Presenter asks
7:57But why did they decide to do that [move the family to Nigeria]?
The keepsakes
The book
Jonathan Swift
I would have Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. And this is a book that deals with all of human nature, it also deals with the way we treat strangers, and particularly in the context of the migrant crisis. It also looks at the futile nature of war. And this is a book that every time I read it, I discover new things.
The luxury
Well, I would actually have a pen to take with me, and I have the the pen here. ... Yes, but the ink flows quite easily. And the reason I would want to have this pen is that because of my hands, I find it easy to draw with it. But I also know that I can make a whole new world. I can draw my fantasies. And in my drawings, everyone would be holding hands and everyone would love each other. And there wouldn't be any wars and there wouldn't be anything. I'm an artist after all, so I would draw my utopian world and ...
Well, my parents took me back to Nigeria in the sixties and there was a lot of enthusiasm in the sixties. There was that kind of post independence euphoria. People went back to rebuild. My father had studied law in Europe and he wanted to make a contribution. And it was a very happy time. Nigeria did have a number of military coups at that time. But there was a period there when it was actually very optimistic. And it was about nation building.
Presenter asks
15:25You tripped on the stairs and you fell. Tell me what happened next.
I was just going down the stairs and I felt faint and I could feel myself falling and then I just remember I woke up in hospital two weeks later. You know, and then I was told I'd been there for two weeks. I was in a coma. And I wanted to get up and I was told, well, we're sorry, you can't get up. And I said, oh, just give me a stick. I would just get up and walk. And it was explained to me that it was transverse myelitis. It was a virus in my spine, which left me completely paralyzed from my neck downwards. And for a 19-year-old, that was shocking. I didn't know what would happen next.
Presenter asks
17:06At what point did you begin to think, yes, actually, this [disability] is a part of me I will embrace?
You're not really happy until you've fully accepted it. And then you try to build a life based on your new situation. I have to admit, I was suicidal. I had suicidal thoughts when I hadn't accepted the situation and I wanted it to be exactly as it was. And I was sent for all kinds of therapies, and particularly, you know, my father was very keen to get me back to how I was. So, therefore, I had to go through all kinds of therapies.
Presenter asks
24:03What have your family over the years made of your art?
It's kind of funny because uh in Nigeria, you know, i if it translates into dollars, then obviously there's something good about it, you know, particularly as I've been awarded a a number of awards and honours and so on. So my parents very much recognized that, particularly when I received the um MBE. I mean, my family are very approving of the royal family, so that was something that was liked very much.
“I believe in the idea of the Trojan horse. So I like being uh subversive, but I like doing it in a subtle way and I like being in places where I'm not meant to be and then I can kind of challenge people, but I don't want the art to appear aggressive or confrontational.”
“Art is incredibly liberating, and you're able to do things you can't do, and you can imagine worlds that you can't actually occupy yourself. So perhaps that has something to do with it, but it's the art of making the impossible possible. And I think that's that's essentially what art is for me. I mean, it's a form of alchemy after all.”
“I was suicidal. I had suicidal thoughts when I hadn't accepted the situation and I wanted it to be exactly as it was.”
“I would describe myself as a rebel within.”