By Henry Akubuiro
As parts of activities marking Black History Month, about one and half century of art was revisited at the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square,W1, London, U.K., on October 6, 2023, when artist, Lanre Olagoke, had a live painting session depicting a famous nineteenth century celebrity. Olagoke’s interest in black History and tourism include being part of a proposed-museum project dedicated to women of African descent to be built in Oyo town, Nigeria.
In 1879, French impressionist, Edgar Degas painted a celebrated black circus artiste, Miss La La at the Cirque Fe. Olagoke, the founder of a charity organisation Art Alive, was a centre of attraction when he joined Dr Bonnie Greer, and Prof Olivette Otele at a gathering inspired by Degas’ ‘Miss La La of the Cirque Fernando’ fame. The event, which significantly added to the year’s Black History Month, has been described as unprecedented. It was perhaps the first time in the history of the National Gallery that a black artist painted live before guests.
During the live painting session, Greer, who had been a keen follower of Olagoke’s art, took the audience through poetic presentation of the artist. Greer noted that Olagoke’s “turbulent”, as well as his Nigerian ancestry, coupled with his British upbringing always forms thematic consideration in his art. She recalled, for example, about “some tales of deprivation,” that Olagoke once told her of his upbringing.
Keeping the audience spellbound with his art during the live painting inside the National Gallery, Olagoke’s mastery rendition became more energised as Greer continued her poetic coverage of the event. “But within that reality, his black paintings tell me about artists’ understandings,” Greer told the audience. “I see a master of artistic intelligence, bringing together his ancestral home of Nigeria and literally home, where he was born in London.”
Earlier, Greer, an author and former board member at British Museum and Otele, a Professor at S.O.A.S., U.K, had a talk session over Greer’s book Miss La La’s Hanging By Her Teeth. However, in the visual art context, Olagoke’s art boosted the talk session of Greer and Otele, celebrating the black history values of which Miss La La represented.
Lanre, a contemporary master depicted Miss La La inside Room 44 of the National Gallery, where works of modern masters were on display, a poet and rapper, Stretch, rendered poems to spice the event. Stretch is one of Lanre’s Mentees from Art.Alive empowerment project.
The event, indirectly, continued Olagoke’s passion for black history contents and subjects. In February, 2021, the then Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III’s 50th coronation anniversary, was used to flag off the Museum of Black Women in History. Olagoke is partner in the consulting firm, Lumin-Artica, which the project facilitator, Oranyan Heritage Foundation (OHF) engaged to manage the proposed-Museum of Black Women in History. OHF, founded by the late Iya-laje of Oyo, Chief Mrs Titilola Orija-adesoye, according to Olagoke, is going ahead with the project, and details will be announced early 2024.
Olagoke noted that Miss La La meant different things as “she can be who you want her to be, even though her real name was Anna.” And appropriating the circus artiste in his style of painting, Olagoke enthused that “it was an honour painting live before an audience, particularly at such a revered institution as the British National Museum.”
The painting, he said, depicts “a woman who was also a fighter, against all odds and excelled as a black circus artiste of repute.”
Ahead of the live painting at National Museum, Olagoke’s itinerant for the Black History Month took him to Mauritius on a community development project. It was a workshop/community project with disadvantaged youths.
“During the workshop, I talked to 100 university students of ALU African Leaders University (ALU), Mauritius),” Olagoke shared his experience from the community project. “Mauritius is a very familiar country to me since I started taking Art Alive activities on tour some years ago,” he added.
As a famous circus artiste, Miss La La was known for many stunts, among which included being pulled up to the height of the circus tent by biting down on the rope with her teeth.