Shifting Poles, Shifting Role: The Politics and Understanding of Jelili Atiku’s Performance Art

The notion of ‘Art in Public Spaces’ in modern Nigerian Arts has been studied along the narrow paths of the plastic arts such as sculpture, murals and other similar genres. Performance Art as a relatively new entrant into the contemporary Nigerian Art circle has however received little or no attention. Against the background of the exhibition and presentation of One: Egúngún by Kristen Windmuller-Luna at the Brooklyn Museum in February 2019. I interrogate the shifting conditions and narratives public performance travel through in the course of its existence. While tangible forms of art such as the Egúngún costumes can constantly be referred to. Shifting poles, shifting roles examines the political and religious connotations in the public performances of Jelili Atiku, an African artist whose works expresses contemporary issues using Yoruba world view. It seeks to explain the roles of these religious and cultural views and their relatedness to politics and public issues/spaces the artist examine. It argues that Atiku have constantly drawn relevant inspiration that engages the circumstances he enacts. It examines specific performances of Atiku by bringing to the fore the original context and the new context in which it is presented. It questions the potency of the original public performances, its roles as Art in politics, spirituality and entertainment. Using social cultural and historical context, I draw on ritual theory particularly. The paper seeks to address the manifold shifts in function of public art, its present appeal and possible perceptions, in both a systematic and a historical perspective.