Yinka Olatunbosun
Media personnel and artists gathered in Lagos for a walkthrough of art collections at the National Gallery of Art, led by the visiting Director-General, Mr. Ahmed Sodangi, and his delegation. The museum staff warmly welcomed the visitors to view the national art collection.
These documented works are part of the hidden treasures long preserved in the weathered facility located within the premises of the National Theatre, Orile Iganmu, Lagos. With reform initiatives underway, these works are set to receive much-needed attention through a partnership between the NGA, the Goethe Institut, the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA), and Julius Berger.
To this end, the National Gallery of Art (NGA) has launched a series of strategic reforms focused on the restoration, archiving, cataloguing, and digitisation of the National Art Collection.
The Director-General, NGA, Mr Ahmed Sodangi, said the initiative was aimed at improving access to and safeguarding Nigeria’s rich artistic heritage.
Sodangi outlined that the reforms are built on four core pillars, including a review of the gallery’s enabling Act and internal restructuring, which involves rebranding the institution. A key focus area is implementing the National Art Renaissance Programme, aimed at cataloguing and digitally preserving artworks worth billions of Naira. He also emphasised the need for human capacity building, noting that NGA personnel, as custodians of the National Collection, require ongoing training to stay aligned with global best practices. “The Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy is more or less a new ministry, but the creative industry and creative economy have been blossoming,” he said.
“It has had so much success, with very little interaction with the government. So, as a government, we have to look at ourselves, and see how we can come up and not take control. But see how we can partner with the private sector, and the creatives that have built this undeniable industry to where it is today.”
Sodangi noted that due to the absence of a national gallery building, the National Collection is currently stored in various locations across the country. “These artworks are meant to be displayed, and are meant to be seen by the general public,” he said.
For him, a digital database of the National collection is urgently needed as part of the ongoing National Art Renaissance programme to facilitate the proper cataloguing, restoration, and valuation of the collection.
He disclosed that the NGA is collaborating with Goethe-Institut Nigeria and the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) to assess, digitally document, and carry out conservation work on the artworks.
Dr Nadine Siegert, Director of Goethe-Institut Nigeria, highlighted the significance of the collection, noting that it contains hundreds of masterpieces that deserve global visibility.
“I think we have already inventoried about 900 or so works. We have photographed about, I think, 400 works,” she said.
Siegert also revealed that two artworks are currently undergoing professional restoration and would be ready for exhibition locally and internationally by July.
Similarly, Yetunde Odediran, Associate Conservator at MOWAA, said the museum’s priority is to stabilise the artworks to make them exhibition-ready.
She noted that MOWAA would also offer training sessions to NGA staff to equip them with the necessary skills for handling artworks safely, especially when moving them between locations.
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