THE HOPE DEALER
Damilola Opedun is a prolific Nigerian artist. Beyond the canvas, he runs an arts education foundation that ensures young people get spiritual guidance. He is self-actualized at a young age.
A stone throw from the behemoth Deeper Life Bible Church headquarters in Gbagada, Lagos, is a dirty brown building with three floors. Shops, offices, and stalls dot this building like many around it. On the ground floor is a restaurant called Swallow Arena, while on the last floor is a white banner with the inscription, THE SEED OF THE TRUE VINE FOUNDATION (TSTTV 2).
Push at the entrance wrought iron gate; the squeak leads to a room full of youth, thirst, and eyes. Eyes oscillate from paper to model. Pencils rest between the thumb and index finger, closer to the end of the stick, and quick gesture renders lay on sketchpads. Drawing is a mark-making code. These students have decoded the ways of the draughtsman.
A model, one of the students, sits for the pose. After a minute and thirty seconds, another student takes a turn. This exercise goes on for a few hours.
Damilola Opedun would skim through each work, making suggestions for improvement in quite a meek voice. Damilola Opedun comes across as gentle; genteel, too.
You can tell a few are secondary school leavers, and most may be university graduates or those in their internship programs. The students are quick to show you their sketchpads. They date each work, and you can see jumps of improvement over a short period. I ask how much to enrol and how long students attend classes. I found out the students stay the duration of their internship as stipulated by their respective schools. “No one pays a dime here,” says Dami. “On the contrary, we support them.” The foundation supports students who can not afford art materials, transportation, and accommodation, for those in dire need.
TSTTV has two expressions. The Makoko school and the Gbagada annex. The Gbagada annex caters to young school leavers and post-secondary school internship candidates. The Makoko school is a weekly art education outreach to children in the waterlogged slums of Makoko. To my surprise, some auxiliary teachers for new entrants at the Gbagada annex are graduates from the Makoko school. I ask how he got into this laudable philanthropic work of teaching and life coaching; his eyes swell at the opportunity to recount one of the best days of his life. In 2014, a friend had asked that they go to Makoko to take some pictures as references for landscape painting studies. They got introduced to the Baale of the community. Damilola was uneasy at that meeting; a burden was upon him. “I heard the voice saying, you see those kids, some of them are like you. I want you to train them”.
He asked the Baale for further permission, this time to teach the kids about the arts. The community and the Baale got skeptical and asked for time to consult their oracles to confirm if the benevolence was for good or evil. TSTTV, Makoko began in 2015. Every Saturday since 2015, Dami Opedun has gone to teach at the school. “I go to teach at Makoko three times a week before I got married,” he says, smiling.
In 2016, some students from higher institutions studying visual arts paid Damilola, a newlywed, a visit and asked that they learn from him. They mentioned that they saw his works on Facebook. They would want to be his students. “I directed them to Universal Studios, Iganmu. They refused. They knew what they wanted”. Dami, living in a self-contained apartment at the time, turned parts of the compound into a tent for teaching these students. Some of these early IT students are now his colleagues- Azeez Salami, Afolabi Atiye, Fatai Kelani, and Disu Ganiyat.
“Do you get external support, and how do you keep the foundation running if the students enrol for free?” I ask. “From the sale of my artworks primarily,” he says, smiling. “God has been faithful! There is also Azeez Salami and Afolabi Atiye who contribute to the foundation, financially from selling their works and otherwise. They have been my students since 2016. Now they are my friends. They are believers in the cause. Their peers now emulate them. They have learned from me; now, they are part of our social workforce, building lives with their time and resources. They are the first fruits of what this foundation is all about”.
The IT arm of TSTTV moved to the Gbagada in 2020, during the pandemic. It is a 3-bedroom apartment serving as the painting and drawing studio, also a sleeping pad for the IT students. One of the IT students, Emmanuel Afolayan, is a final year student from Obafemi Awolowo University. He completed his IT at TSTTV. With the ASUU strike, he has been living and working in the facility. “Emmanuel has sold works worth N1, 000, 000 in a few months. He can support himself and contribute to the foundation.”
It is a tradition at TSTTV; you learn; you sell; and you support the cause so that others can learn, sell and continue to support the cause.
His first solo body of work was titled- MakoVenice. He has graced many group exhibitions before. The show was an amalgam of the realities of the Makoko waterlogged slum and a Venice possibility. Most of the inspiration and technique used in executing the work in the exhibition came from teaching the students. The students seem to feed his genius through their honest questions and shortcomings. “I found a way to show what I have been teaching through the works that make up the exhibition. The message is simple; you can achieve greatness regardless of your environment.” He pauses and then continues. “That exhibition was like an awakening to comfort people and give them hope.”
There seemed to be a pattern to this story, so I asked, can I call you a peddler of kindness or a hope dealer of sorts? He beams a smile. “I see myself like a clergyman. I am using my work to do the same thing pastors would do on the pulpit. So this studio is my pulpit; anything I create is about hope. It is about love. The same things you hear in our religious organizations, it is the same thing I do”. From his Phobia series, where he uses emojis and distorted shapes, Warner Bros UK has loaned one of the works for use on a set in a movie that is soon to be released. Disney UK has concluded talks about using a work in the same series for a short film.
Damilola Opedun showed at the just concluded Chilli Art Projects exhibition in London; to his surprise, there have been offers, commissions, and opportunities for international collaborations. “Since the show began, the engagement on my social media and my Instagram following has increased. People are calling and making great remarks,” he says heartily. “I like it when people see the works and say it is heavenly or spiritual. I love that!”
Over 200 students have passed through TSTTV from 2016 to date. At the moment, they have 21 IT students from around the country. The biggest dream for TSTTV is to own a facility where budding artists can learn, live and work.
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