Honoring a geat artist, educator and cultural activist

Professor Uche Okeke turns 80 on the 30th of April, 2013. Plans are already underway in preparation for a celebration to honor this man who has contributed so much to the arts in Nigeria and on the African continent.

His passion for the arts consumed the past 60 odd years of his life.

As his daughter, I am very proud to claim him as father, mentor and inspiration.

I wish him more years of joy, happiness and fulfillment.

The view through my father's eyes

I pronounce myself very fortunate to have been fathered by an individual with a very broad view of life and people. There was no differentiation between my sister and I and our brothers. My father has a healthy respect for the individual - male or female. I think he derived this from growing up with a mother who was very strong in character. A woman with only elementary level schooling who single-handedly brought up seven children, ensured they all had a good education and most unusual for that time encouraged her first son to pursue his love for art. 

My grandmother fondly known as 'Mama Nimo', but born Monica Mgboye Okoye until she married my grandfather and became an Okeke, could be terrifying. I daresay she was quite scary to a lot of people until you got closer to her. She did not suffer fools and was very forthright with her opinions. With her you certainly knew where you stood. I loved her because she had an innate wisdom and vision. You could discuss anything with her because her finger was always on the pulse. She always knew what was happening in the country be it political or otherwise.

Most of all she supported my father's dreams until her death in 1995. There was never a dull moment with her, she challenged you every step of the way, and she was an incredibly talented midwife and homeopath. She was extremely intelligent and savvy. In a lot of ways my sister reminds me of her, the same strength of character and wisdom, but a much nicer version of Mama Nimo. This is the woman who brought up my father after his father died. My father was ten years old when my grandfather passed away from a heart attack.

I would have loved to meet my grandfather, he came from an artistic family, a family of artisans. He worked for the railways up in Kafanchan in the Northern part of Nigeria, where my father was born. He was a young man when he died. My father's sketches, drawings and paintings between the mid to late 50s into the 60s reflect his childhood years in the North.

Another milestone marked

My father celebrated his 77th birthday on Friday 30th April, 2010. I am constantly amazed at how much care and love people that don't really know my father have shown him and this is even more apparent to me through the report I got from my sister regarding his birthday. He enjoyed the attention thoroughly.

Here is a man well-loved by his friends and family. At the end of the day it is not so much what you have amassed or what you have achieved but what your relationship has been with those around you and your wife and children in particular.

My father is not a paragon certainly but he is a good man, patient, calm,  a loyal and steady friend, I like to think a wise man, reflective, a deep thinker, a good listener, a simple demeanor and quiet disposition. He loves to make jokes, but he's not really very good at them and he usually ends up laughing at his own joke. But he has a very sharp wit and a wicked tongue when you least expect it.

Bravo!!! Bravo dad for being here and still standing in spite of everything life has thrown at you.

What's in a name??

Di Nka in Igbo folk lore is a highly talented artist, a creator with god-given skills, a master craftsman. That is my father's titular name given to him by his peers and elders in my hometown. Whenever he received visitors, particularly men folk, they would first hail him by this name or when he attended village meetings, or the Nimo Brotherhood Society meetings. I thought the name suited him to a tee because he is a master of his craft, he possesses a god-given talent and is indeed a slave to his master - the arts.

As far as I have known my father, he has been totally dedicated to the development and growth of a contemporary Nigerian art through a process of  'natural synthesis' (his words) that emerges from our traditional art. This calling has driven him all his natural life and he has poured in everything within him to achieve what ever goals he set for himself in this journey of contributing to the greater good through the arts.

It has certainly not been an easy journey both for himself and for his family and I would like to think he has made considerable progress, not by himself but in conjunction with many other significant men and women who had similar notions and ideals, who loved Nigeria, were patriotic, nationalistic and idealistic. That was the time in which my father went to school, studied arts against the odds and looked forward to serving his country.

The kind of idealism that produced literary luminaries such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka,  J.P. Clark, Christopher Okigbo, Cyprian Ekwensi, Dora Efudu, Elechi Amadi, and outstandingly talented visual artists like Uche Okeke, Obiora Udechukwu, Chike Aniakor, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo, Simon Okeke, and so on. Great theater and film artists also emerged from this ilk.

Nigeria was an exciting place to be in that time, talent was appreciated, merit was rewarded and hard work applauded.