DIDI Museum, the first privately owned museum in Nigeria, is holding its ‘Journey to Mastery’ Exhibition that will open on April 18, 2019.
The ‘Journey to Mastery’ Exhibition is a celebration of the respective journeys of DIDI Museum and two renowned Nigerian artists, Uche Edochie and Ayoola.
The Exhibition started with humble beginnings and DIDI Museum has become a home, a place where art lives through its powerful and compelling artworks.
The collection of works at DIDI Museum represents the common struggle, common progress and most importantly shared African character. Didi Museum is the brainchild of Chief Newton Jibunoh.
His passion for art was first ignited when he visited the British Museum in the United Kingdom. Nothing could have prepared him for what he witnessed during that first visit.
The artefacts he saw proudly displayed in the Nigerian section, with extensive historical data and information bore an unsettling resemblance to those, which were taken away from his village when he was a little boy.
The memory of missionaries destroying artworks in Jibunoh’s earlier years in Delta State marked the beginning of DIDI’s journey.
Newton Jibunoh’s desire to collect, preserve and educate fellow Africans on the beauty of African art was birthed and this led to a series of events. Upon return from his studies in the UK, he started collecting art pieces.
As his collection grew he organised informal red wine gatherings in the parlour of his first flat with friends and art lovers. Those parlour exhibitions spearheaded the establishment of Didi Museum in 1983.
The event is being curated by the children of Newton Jibunoh, Ifeoma Dozie and Ceejay Jibunoh and will be held at Plot 175, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, houses DIDI Museum.
Uche Edochie graduated from the University of Nsukka with a Major in painting and has been exhibiting his collections for the last 24 years.
Ayoola graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University with a BA in Fine/Applied Art and has been exhibiting his collections since 2006.
