It has been a long, colourful and fulfilling journey for Bruce Onobrakpeya, the celebrated master artist who turned 90 on August 30.

When he became a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Artists in 2000, it was recognition of his stature as a veteran as well as acknowledgement of his work and achievements. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) underlined his value by giving him the Living Human Treasure Award in 2006.

Two prestigious honours from the Nigerian government further cemented his ranking as a “national treasure.” He was the second winner of the Nigerian Creativity Award in 2010, and recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit in 2017.

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There is no doubt about the special quality of Onabrakpeya’s creativity as printmaker, painter and sculptor. Indeed, his Ovuomaroro Studio, Papa – Ajao, Lagos, is a recognised tourist attraction in the megacity. Also of touristic significance is the annual Harmattan workshop in his home town, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, which he started in 1998.

His artworks, according to him, “cover a very wide spectrum of interests.” He explained in a recent interview: “I am preoccupied with the environment. I am preoccupied with the philosophy of our people, nature; I am interested in politics, folklore, myths, legends and the life that is not even seen. Sometimes, my works are also quite scientific; derived from the scientific formula.”

He was trained at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria, (now Ahmadu Bello University). He got into the institution in 1957. By his account, he acquired technical skills at the college, but it was the Zaria Arts Society, later known as Zaria Rebels, that shaped his professional practice. Formed by a group of art students at the college, the society pursued the idea of “decolonising” the visual arts, rebelling against the concept of art taught by their European teachers. He taught at Saint Gregory’s College, Lagos, until 1980.

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