Dream Chamber. Enugu, Nigeria
THE PURPOSE OF ART Okereke is not a man of catchwords. Achievement is not part of his dictionary, as he aims to manifest. So, when asked if he hopes to change the narrative around contemporary African art, he tells us that he’d rather focus on the process of creation and movement. Okereke prioritizes creating a space where young artists can absorb knowledge and learn how to stand by their perspective and logic, and then change will happen naturally, “Knowledge comes in many forms and places, but there’s a lot of ignorance attached to it. So the goal is to create a space for artists to redefine and reshape how we connect with the world around us. Change might not happen in my time, but that’s not the point, right? Because we are a manifestation of so many journeys of evolution… and when you think about it that way, it is beautiful that we’re able to do these things. Others will come, and narratives will change.” Okereke also takes some time to reflect upon the importance of collaboration. He likes to look at collaboration in the broadest sense of the word. Okereke believes that we are in a constant state of collaboration that transcends time and space. We collaborate with our ancestors and the spiritual world; we collaborate with the authors of the books we read and the people that pass through our lives. He urges us to beware of collaboration out of fear of putting ourselves out there alone and defends that collaboration should come from a place of sharing knowledge and expanding perspectives. “It’s about the uncomfortable moments, the shifts of perspective, the processing of insights, the reaching of new conclusions. It is messy, yet it is the only way of effective collaboration.”
limited his imagination. There were no references to the artists that he grew up loving and admiring or space to explore the real extent of the history of art. He reflects on the limitations of western teachings, “There’s a paradox in the sense of knowledge we see in the western world. There’s an apparent abundance of knowledge; museums, schools, libraries, but the approach and the way we digest, engage, and utilize knowledge is limiting.” There was a deep desire to be part of something big, and Okereke understood that if he wanted to grow as an artist, he needed to get to know himself, step out, and access a whole world of available knowledge back home. This was the moment that prepared him for the journey that would shift the course of his life, the first trans-African road trip.
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