The call for a halt to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region got a boost yesterday in Benin as some young artists used their artworks to expose the pollution and margination caused by oil exploration and called for remediation through their artworks.
The artists – Destiny Osas; Chukwuma Eberechukwu; Emem David; Chidubem Ejiofor; Anita Onyemaechi operating under a non-governmental organisation known as Arts Advocates, said they were dedicated to harnessing the power of art for social and environmental change.
At an arts exhibition titled: Arts4Resistance: Exposing the Impacts of Extractives on Communities in the Niger Delta Using Arts and Paintings, the artists said they were concerned with advocating justice for communities in the Niger Delta which they said had been deeply impacted by decades of environmental exploitation from oil extraction.
They said they were committed to using their artworks to bring to life the struggles and resilience of the communities through visual storytelling, adding, “We aim to foster empathy, awareness, and meaningful dialogue around issues of environmental and social justice.”
Coordinator of the group, Destiny Osas, said; “We are using our works to depict the injustice 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 injustice and imbalance going on in the communities and in our society at large. My message in my artwork is, our leaders should try to communicate with the communities and the people before taking any decision. They should stop imposing laws and structures that have no input of the people.”
Chukwuma Eberechukwu also 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 were aimed at reducing, if not totally eradicating environmental degradation in the region.
Anita Onyemaechi, who used her artworks to portray the level damage oil exploration has caused in the region, said, “Before now, people had been using all sorts of means including protests, 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.”
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