OPTG: Thank you Victor for taking time to speak with OPTG about you, your work and what inspires you. So, from a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from Obafemi Awolowo University, NIgeria to an award winning artist traveling the world. Tell us, who is Victor Ekpuk?
Victor: I was born in Nigeria in Akwa Ibom state. As far back as I can remember, my ability to draw visual representations of objects and people were much more developed before I learnt how to read and write in school. My mother in particular encouraged and nurtured my artistic talent from a very young age. In my primary school, I was the go to artist who was called on by teachers in upper classes to draw diagrams and maps for biology and civic classes even though I was only in class 2. In class 2 I won my first prize in art along with my craft (handwork) teacher for then Etinan division. (In 1972, divisions were equivalent of local government in Nigeria or county in US)
OPTG: What got you interested in the arts and in particular the Nsibidi system of writing?
Victor: Perhaps, the best answer I can give is, I was born that way. It’s really not a matter of developing an interest; it is being, seeing and living art. I could not help myself, even if I tried. My attention was drawn to use of nsibidi as a vernacular for artistic expression when I came across the drawings of the artist Obiora Udechukwu, while in art school at Ife.
As an undergraduate at Ife, part of our tutelage was to find inspiration in our own African aesthetics, even as we studied European canons. What this did for me was an enlightenment of how African aesthetics and culture is the bedrock of popular European artistic culture. From that point onwards, I took great pride in the intellectual capacity of African culture and continued to look mainly to this huge ocean of imagination to nurture mine.
OPTG: It’s a common thread among African artists how they fought against their parents’ insistence not go into the arts. Did you face this obstacle? If you did, how did you overcome it?
Victor: Fortunately, I got lots of love and encouragements from my parents, and family members. They would have been quite shocked if I had chosen a different career path. There’s an artistic gene in my mother’s side of the family, she was a seamstress, and never called herself an artist. But I used to admire her drawings of patterns and designs for her embroidery and clothing she made, she had great sense of style.
OPTG: Tell us about your journey to this moment. What were your challenges? Who or what inspired you?
Victor: As a child, I made art because it was how I could easily express my world. Art was how I played with my childhood friends and made new friends. I guess they thought I was kind of special. Throughout my schooling from primary school to college, art has always been the number one subject that I excelled in. After college in 1989, I did the mandatory one-year national youth service (NYSC) in Onitsha, working as a book illustrator in a publishing firm. From Onitsha, I went to Lagos to start work at national newspaper Daily Times as editorial illustrator and cartoonist and did that for eight years. Daily Times was my day job and my studio at home was an alternate means of expression, which I exhibited in Lagos galleries and shown at international venues. In 1990, I immigrated to the United States; started a family setup a studio in my home and explored the opportunities that my new country had to offer. I am grateful that it’s been a blessing.
OPTG: What have you learnt along the way?
Victor: I learned that if I believe strongly in what I do, others will believe it too. I’ve also learnt that understanding the business side of art is how I could make my passion my profession.
OPTG: What do you absolutely love to indulge in and gives you joy?
Victor: I love photography, it is my hobby. I absolutely love to laze around and doing nothing for days after a big project. But that seldom happens, that’s why it is an indulgence.
OPTG: What should we be expecting from you in the future?
Victor: More better art
OPTG: What advise will you give particularly young people who are yet to identify their passion?
Victor: Imagine and explore, when you find it, do it. Don’t allow other people’s judgments or expectations to snuff out your own inner longing and passion.