Cover | Remembering a Legend’s Passing Time – Olabisi Silva. 1962 – 2019 (2024)

Bisi Silva, a pioneering independent curator based in Lagos, Nigeria, was instrumental in shaping Africa’s contemporary art scene. As the founder and artistic director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA) and the driving force behind ART X Lagos, West Africa’s premier international art fair, Silva’s influence was profound. Her curatorial achievements include significant projects such as “The Progress of Love” and roles in prestigious events like the Thessaloniki Biennale and the Venice Biennale. Silva, who also contributed to leading art publications, passed away on Tuesday, February 12, 2019, after a long battle with cancer. She was fifty-seven years old., leaving a lasting legacy in the world of contemporary art. iBAND Magazine decided to go memory lane and publish one of our interviews with one of Africa’s most illustrious curators.

Brilliant, benevolent, and beautiful were just some of the words that best described the bilingual Bisi Silva. She was the ‘Special One’ for contemporary art. Bisi Silva singlehandedly promoted the word ‘curator’ into the art consciousness of Nigerians and the visual art sector when a lot were still battling what the word was all about. A French major, she was creatively engaged as a curator in one of Africa’s most visible cities in terms of art business and cultural entrepreneurship.

Centre for Contemporary Arts, CCA, Lagos promoted research, documentation, and exhibitions related to contemporary art in Africa and abroad. Active moments of art programs, workshops, exhibitions, seminars, residencies, research, and analytical exposes of visual art in photography, sound and video art, and installations all characterized what the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos stood for. Bisi was the engine and powerhouse behind the organization. She was the founder and Artistic Director of the centre, which was established in December 2007 and opened with Nigerian photographer and writer George Osodi’s international photography exhibition. Since then, more exhibitions and engaging moments had become CCA’s hallmark.

One might have imagined seeing Ndidi Dike’s dug-out canoe, “Waka-into-Bondage,” as a symbol to re-enact the slavery period and experience in a building in Yaba, a suburb in Lagos, where CCA operated during the developed series tailored to interact with notions of post-colonialism and its related ambivalence entitled “On Independence and the Ambivalence of Promise.” Anchored on a dedicated team of young curatorial and intelligent assistants, CCA was a moving train packed with modern knowledge in its coaches.

A meeting with the Amazon in early March 2014 coincided with the preparation for Legendary Ghanaian artist Professor El Anatsui’s 70th birthday celebration in Lagos. CCA hosted a comprehensive collection of Fine Art and Art History from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, culminating in a grand reception at the center. The gallery had been designed behind closed doors by Bisi and one of the curatorial assistants, Taye Idahor. They were joined by the gentle mother in CCA, affectionately referred to as ‘Mama’ by patrons. The curator had only opened the door to check who was knocking and remembered the WALKARTROAD e-magazine appointment for 1p.m. “Can you give me just five minutes and I will be with you,” she had pleaded.

Standing at 5 feet 2 inches tall, the 52-year-old curator’s knowledge was well-documented both at home and abroad. With bibliophiles of curatorial participation as a curator or co-curator in engaging programs, Bisi boasted an impressive record. Her engagements included being the co-curator of ‘The Progress of Love,’ a transcontinental collaboration across three venues in the US and Nigeria (October 2012 – January 2013). Silva had been co-curator of J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Moments of Beauty,’ Kiasma, Helsinki (April – November 2011), and also co-curator for the 2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece, ‘Praxis: Art in Times of Uncertainty’ in September 2009. In 2006, Silva was one of the curators for the Dakar Biennale in Senegal. Collaborating with Portuguese art critic Isabel Carlos, she selected artists for the third Artes Mundi prize in Wales. She also curated “Contact Zone: Contemporary Art from West and North Africa” (October 2007) and an exhibition titled “Telling… Contemporary Finnish Photography” for the Seventh Biennial of African Photography in Bamako (November 2007). Other notable exhibitions included 2009’s “In the Light of Play” at the Durban Art Gallery and Johannesburg Art Fair, “Chance Encounters: Seven Contemporary Artists from Africa” at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, and Taipei, Taiwan, as well as “Like A Virgin…” featuring Lucy Azubuike (NIG) and Zanele Muholi (SA) at CCA, Lagos.

Lagos Party

One of the last exhibitions at CCA in 2013 was by a young Nigerian painter, Kelani Abass, entitled “‘Asiko’ Evoking Personal Narratives and Collective History.” In this body of new works, Kelani explored the possibilities inherent in painting and photography. This detailed exploration of art invention by the young artist brought more international attention and interest to CCA and its apostles, establishing them as significant players in the art world. Local and international reviews garnered by the center alone in the last six years of operation provided ample proof that no one belonged there more than they did. The progression of love within their midst continued to create a bond and bring in the creative energy necessary for them to thrive. After an almost thirty-year absence, Bisi Silva returned and launched one of the most demanding and modern centers for contemporary art in Lagos.

” I experienced both the old and the new Lagos, before leaving for the United Kingdom to continue my education. The Lagos party and the Bar Beach Blues were moments I still recalled easily. Lagos will always be Lagos.

I had Brazilian blood, which revealed the ‘Silva’ in my name. I had fun during my time growing up with my family and friends, and we experienced and participated in the different Lagos carnivals that were still popular around ‘Isale Eko,’ Lagos Island. I was born in Lagos to a well-cultured Yoruba family. I actually had ample time with my family, including uncles, aunties, cousins, and more, before leaving for the United Kingdom at age eleven. I grew up reading everything I could lay my hands on, and this must have been the source of what I became as a research-based person. Hardly did a day pass without me grabbing something to read. I was an academically inclined character.

I had Brazilian blood, which revealed the ‘Silva’ in my name. I had fun during my time growing up with my family and friends, and we experienced and participated in the different Lagos carnivals that were still popular around ‘Isale Eko,’ Lagos Island.

Growing up during my time was fun for a child who clung tenaciously to her mum, learning the traditions and moral values of the people, and being taught how to greet an adult and exchange pleasantries. Back then, everything was more of an analogue approach to life, a slow and steady kind of experience, unlike what we see today, where everything has been digitized. We now move in a space where people’s ways of interaction and living have evolved. It’s been a progression, but so far so good. The world is a global space, and I believe everyone has a mission to fill it.

Today, tradition has gone beyond local folklore appreciation and has become engaged in the global space of contemporary admiration of what each environment and society has to offer to boost their presence.

At Home Abroad

“Life in the UK didn’t chain me into a new life. I always came around for holidays to see my family and extended family. I never left forever; rather, I was always in constant touch with what was happening back home. North, south, east, and west, home was the best. I never ran off my roots. I was fully integrated. That is why, when I decided to come back and continue my curatorial practice, I was never moved or disturbed about blending with what was obtainable here. Instead, I prepared myself to actualize my plans.

I was always in constant touch with what was happening back home

My reaction to my people’s cultural milieu as an Afropolitan was not a culture shock because I had always been around. I was part of everything cultural, even though I left home very young. I remained very close to my people’s culture. That I left very young didn’t mean I was away forever; I came home for the holidays, stayed around for some time, and spent quality time with my people. In fact, my “Isale Eko” credibility remained intact. My grandma was a cult figure there.”

Mum or Dad?

“Then, Mum was always the best person to relate to. The fantasies and escapades of a girl child were always fun to talk about with Mum, because Dad was a strong disciplinarian. However, he was also a smiley person and not a strict figure. Weekends were always fun spent with him.”

The fantasies and escapades of a girl child were always fun to talk about with Mum

New Direction

“Actually, events overtook some of my decisions. I had been studying French with the intention of working in international diplomacy and possibly pursuing a career as a translator with foreign missions. However, visiting exhibitions and participating in art events, which were much more open and popular abroad, ignited a passion in me. Before I could return from my wonderland, I found myself transitioning into art historical research and practices.

A curatorial career was more academic because it delved into art research and analysis. It required critical thinking and intellectual rigor, as it involved facilitating engaging curatorial practices. One underlying factor about being a curator was that it was a research-based career. If you didn’t read, you couldn’t become acquainted with it. I loved reading, simply because I enjoyed handling books. The job was a demanding one.”

A curatorial career was more academic because it delved into art research and analysis.

Africa for Africa

“Africans had come of age to be part of the curatorial experience. The career sounded foreign, but it was not. It was not a gallery manager kind of job, which many practitioners had termed it to be. A gallery salesman was just a salesman. A curator had his area of research, so it was very impossible for anyone to come up and claim to be a curator without having any feasible area of research.

. A gallery salesman was just a salesman. A curator had his area of research

Africans, meaning those who seriously appreciated the value of education in visual and contemporary art, were already moving into curatorial practice as a career. It was a research-based career, whereby one not only facilitated programs but also shared and impacted curatorial knowledge of how art business and appreciation could advance to another level.

At CCA and Africa, there were young and dedicated people who had delved into this field, such as Jude Anogwih, Taye Idahor, Oyindamola Fakeye, Susan Souza, Koyo Kouoh, and many more.”

No Limit

“Every single kobo and penny spent here over six years ago was worth it. It was a mission that needed to move on. We hadn’t even scratched the surface yet, and we kept improving daily. Sailing through it was the biggest challenge, and we kept sailing. Before I came back, I was doing my kind of networking to understand what was lacking and what needed to be improved. I didn’t have any backup here; rather, I relied on international networking to get the place going. I didn’t come to hijack the process from anyone or any group of individuals, as I always said; moving to the next level was the priority for me.

Sailing through it was the biggest challenge, and we kept sailing.

This was a goal I set for myself and with the support of a reliable and well-informed team, who also believed in what we stood to achieve. Everything here was built on ‘a can do it’ spirit. Right from the first day, the team had been so wonderful! From Mama, whom I always called my assistant curator, to Jude Anogwih, who had been our man Friday and always brought us back to the real thing. Not forgetting the backroom staff, Taye and Kemi, the interns, and friends of CCA.”

Power of Trust

“One thing I had learned in any business endeavor was the power of trust. The support we received at CCA was based on our ability not to compromise but to be creative and move with the times. Conventionalism was nowhere in our dictionary. We continued to support and welcome new innovations from anywhere around us. In the beginning, our introduction was a bit strange and scary to traditionalists, until they engaged with us and we created room for conversations in all forms and patterns.

One thing I had learned in any business endeavor was the power of trust.

Home and abroad, we had been able to bridge borders, and closing gaps with the other side was one of our goals. We believed that our cultures, traditions, norms, and milieus were all very important to us at CCA for the future.”

Home and abroad, we had been able to bridge borders,

Interview/Words/Ireho Aito/Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger!/Photographs/ CCA Archives/Photographs/ Google