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00:00To me, art is an expression, obviously, and it is my way of interacting the heart of God to mankind.
00:22It's people. It's the self. It's the same way that I think about architecture, where I try to understand what architecture means,
00:29and it's as simple as a conversation between two people. It's the moment happening right then and there, and that's what creates everything around us.
00:37Art, for me, is a way to express myself and to share that expression with the world, and I also see art as a form of therapy,
00:48because I feel like art can be channeled to help people that need this sort of exposure to creativity for mental wellness.
01:00My art has developed over time. I initially would create self-portraits of my experiences and obviously of women as well as a woman.
01:17But now it's more about spiritual revelations that I have. It's also about, you know, certain concepts that are biblical.
01:28I'm inspired by people's stories. I'm inspired by individual and collective wellness, mental wellness, gardens, nature, and just humanity in general.
01:40I'm very inspired by people and the sense of touching, the sense of being. And for me, architecture that is built for people wants to be touched, wants to be cared for, and wants to be listened to.
01:55So I really hope to build spaces that need human touch and need human care. Soft spaces that cohabitate with the people living inside it.
02:09I get inspiration from any and everything. Films, other photographers, writers. Like the work I showed today, there was a part of it that was influenced by the writer, Ervin Goffman, and his theory on interaction.
02:25So really, anything inspires me.
02:27The context, really. I think the whole goal of being an architect is to answer, solve questions, solve problems, and have a really social look at the way we are intervening in the space.
02:42What do you think?
02:47Basically, that we don't have the necessary infrastructure, especially in the universities or polytechnics, to properly teach these subjects.
02:55And with too much emphasis on the way, the rigid structure of a school.
03:03There has not been enough input into the schools of design and art by people practicing. To succeed, you need practitioners to come to the schools, to talk to the students.
03:15It inspires them. It also means that people who are doing the do are speaking to you.
03:20And thirdly, we just know that, look, the more, the merrier, as they will say, until, of course, it gets to a point where too many cooks spoil the broth.
03:29But otherwise, the more, the merrier.
03:31Materials. Though I use waste fabric, but then I still use acrylic, I use other materials.
03:39And most times, you need to import these materials into the country.
03:44And they can be quite expensive.
03:48And even the rigors of trying to export these into the country is sometimes very difficult.
03:54Access. I think that's the one challenge that a lot of people, artists face in the industry.
04:00Just access, access to resources to bring some of your ideas to life.
04:04Access in the literal word of like, even accessing space that you want to document or like stories that you want to tell.
04:11And the restrictions that come around that.
04:13The inability to access good space to make the work.
04:17And space that will have the conditions like electricity and cross ventilation and things like that.
04:24To make their best work. And I think that's the major challenge for artists in Nigeria.
04:29As an architect trying to navigate what materials can do this.
04:34It's really tough for me to try to build structures that aren't the rudimentary concrete, wood and steel.
04:45But to try and actually break that boundary and explore alternative materials.
04:49Myself.
04:50Firstly, out of fear to look to Spirit Coco.
05:01Really, it will be more conversations and also more collaborations.
05:05More doing. More practical. More exposure.
05:08Art scene in Nigeria is actually very young.
05:11And so the best thing I can wish for it is just to get more mature.
05:16And develop into something that is totally detached to material questions.
05:22And really, to have every artist to be able to abandon himself into his art.
05:26Without wondering if it can sell or not.
05:28Art in Nigeria is still in its infancy stage in the modern world.
05:35Because we're still trying to find our voice.
05:37Like recovering from our colonial era, from the civil wars, from the economic unrest that's happened.
05:42It's left us slowly crawling out of a pit, unfortunately.
05:46Because we are supposed to be way ahead of where we are now.
05:49But we're progressing. We're moving forward.
05:51Because where we were seven years ago, when I started professionally,
05:54it's very different from where we are today.
05:56And I'm so grateful for the growth and to have even been a part of that journey.
05:59So I still say we're growing.
06:01We're making bold strides.
06:03We're making very bold strides.
06:05We're opening up museums.
06:06And artists are opening up spaces.
06:08So we're growing.
06:09We're growing quickly.
06:10And we're growing steadily.
06:11So I'm quite positive about it.
06:18For 9H, I say, Chuka, Imela, you've done good work.
06:22Creating this platform where we can all come together and meet.
06:25And share our stories and learn from each other is invaluable.
06:30These are the kind of initiatives that I see as necessary.
06:34And it's an enabling platform.
06:37And it's a platform that is really based on the foundation of love.
06:41Highly commendable.
06:43Because I believe conversations, talks are very important.
06:48That's how we preserve culture and share knowledge.
06:589H Design Talk with the brand Seven Speaker Seven Minutes is basically a chance for me to gather people in design and art to come together, be spoken to by people in their own field.
07:14And that's basically what it is.
07:16We've been here since 2017.
07:18And we're still going strong.
07:19We are moving now into documentaries, book publishing, and such other things as may spread the word of design and art.
07:30This is Colleyville.
07:43This was my father's dream house.
07:49He started designing it in his 30s.
07:52He changed the design about three times before he eventually finished it in his early 40s.
08:03My father was very, very, very fastidious about his work.
08:08He was very detailed.
08:10He had particular likes and dislikes, and he had little nuances which rubbed off on me.
08:40He was very detailed.
08:41This