DELA Screening At UNN: More Photos
The DELA Campus Tour officially premieres at the esteemed University of Nigeria Nsukka. The screening and exhibition event was hosted by the Institute of African Studies (IAS) in their modern new venue, which was packed with an enthusiastic audience eager to engage with the content, highlighting both interest and meaningful impact.
Photos by IAS-UNN: DELA SCREENING & UNN CAMPUS
More images of the DELA Campus Tour at the esteemed University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). The screening and exhibition event was hosted by the Institute of African Studies (IAS) in their modern new venue, which was packed with an enthusiastic audience.
Special Guest: The paramount traditional ruler H.R.H Igwe George ASADU, The Okpe Udo of Ihe Nsukka, who in 2015 conferred the title "Ikedire of Nsukka" (“power which is effective”) on Prof. EI Anatsui.
DELA: The Making of El Anatsui is a biographical documentary about one of the world's greatest sculptors. The Campus Tour aims to bring art and film students closer to the film's subject. It has so far, screened at Pan-Atlantic University Lagos, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). In Ghana, the tour will continue at the artist’s five alma mater institutions.
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DELA Campus Tour: University Of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)
The DELA Campus Tour officially premieres at the esteemed University of Nigeria Nsukka. The screening and exhibition event was hosted by the Institute of African Studies (IAS) in their modern new venue, which was packed with an enthusiastic audience eager to engage with the content, highlighting both interest and meaningful impact.
oyiza adaba
maurice E. Okereke
The DELA Campus Tour officially premiered at the esteemed University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). The screening and exhibition event was hosted by the Institute of African Studies (IAS) in their modern new venue, which was packed with an enthusiastic audience eager to engage with the content, highlighting both interest and meaningful impact.
Main Gate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka reading the institution’s motto “To Restore The Dignity Of Man”. Photo: Africa-Related.
To kick off the screening on April 29, 2025, Prof. Chijioke Onuora, a professor of drawing and sculpture in the Fine and Industrial Arts Department conducted an enlightening tour of the captivating photo exhibition that beautifully encapsulates the rich history and vibrant culture of the University of Nigeria.
The ground floor of the Institute of African Studies serves as a walk-in gallery of various artworks by both current and past students and teachers. Our guide was Prof. Chijoke Onuora, a former student of El Anatsui, and also the son of Mr. Joshua Chukwuemeka Onuorah, a pioneer student of Physical Health Education and the UNN unofficial photographer in the 60s and 70s. He showed us beautiful photos taken in the very early days of the university's existence, capturing various occasions such as the first graduation ceremony, and first set of female graduates etc.
Shortly afterwards, the screening began, the atmosphere was quite pleasant. A lot of students streamed in, as the special guest the paramount traditional ruler H.R.H Igwe George ASADU, The Okpe Udo of Ihe Nsukka occupied the front row seat. He, in 2015, conferred the title "Ikedire of Nsukka" (power which is effective) on Prof. EI Anatsui.
Also seated in the packed room were Prof. Krydz Ikwuemesi, Prof. Chidi Ugwu, Assoc. Prof. Greg Mbajiorgu and Assoc. Prof. Vincent Okpara H.O.D, Department of Fine and Industrial Arts. The audience was very receptive and attentive during the viewing, one could tell on account of their humorous and enthused responses. The event concluded with a short Q and A which yielded a few comments with much praise and plenty of thanks to the production team. The organizers were quite gracious, extremely polite and very courteous.
This happened to be the very first event since the inauguration of the new building of the Institute of African Studies, situated close to the UBA gate on campus. It also happened to be the first screening I am attending in person in Nigeria. DELA’s journey to Nsukka was extra special as it was a homecoming of sorts, not just for the film, but also for my ever-supportive husband Maurice Okereke (Words By MOE), a 1995 UNN alumnus, who worked on the film as an assistant music director - contributing original music scores from his poetic pieces, to the film’s soundtrack.
Oyiza Adaba with Nsukka DoP Michael ‘Lenix’ Onah, who filmed some of the Nsukka shots.
DELA: Soundtrack Poster with featured artists.
Other contributing artists include UNN Graduate, the late Bright Andrew Igho a.k.a B-Elect, a musician/author who contributed his track 'WAT THE OLD MAN SAID (B.I.B.L.E.)' to the film. Uchenna Ohagwu (Minista Busta), an IMT Enugu graduate is the visual/graphic artist/musician who designed the DELA icon head logo that depicts El Anatsui’s young and older face. Amarachi Attamah, a griot/chant performer composed a beautiful chant piece entitled 'EGARA EL', used in the opening sequence. Lemi Ghariokwu is the graphic artist who designed several of Fela Kuti's album covers and also designed the DELA 'walking man' logo. Two indigenous musicians DJ Robintonzz added the track 'AFRICA' Ft. New Prince, while Lake Spy composed the film's end credit track 'ASIGI II' in honour of El Anatsui.
The Institute of African Studies, UNN
Ozioma Onuzulike’s piece ‘Seed Yams of Our Land’ series drape the front entrance Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Nigeria Nsukka. Photo: Africa-Related
New Address: Front entrance Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Nigeria, Nsukka UNN..
Nsukka town is about eighty kilometers north of Enugu in South Eastern Nigeria, where the University campus sits on 871 hectares of hilly savannah with lush vegetation. The Institute of African Studies was established in 1963, initially as the Hansberry College of African Studies. It was named after Professor William Leo Hansberry, an eminent Afro-American Historian and Africanist, who served as its Director, and taught two African presidents - Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria and Ghana’s Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
According to A.E. Afigbo, the idea for a graduate Institute of African Studies in the University of Nigeria was channeled towards research and was designed as a rallying point for “all men of colour who can trace their descent to the African continent no matter in what part of the world they now find their habitation”. The institute’s current Director Prof. Ozioma Onuzulike has ably stepped into the big shoes left by past directors, such as Prof. Edward Wilmot Blyden III, Prof. Donatus I. Nwoga, Prof. Uche Okeke, Prof. Chike Aniakor and many others that followed.
El Anatusi’s sculptures on UNN campus
Prof. El Anatsui was a resident of Nsukka for forty-four years (1975-2020), and retired from teaching sculpture at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts in 2012. Two free-standing sculptures made of concrete with terrazzo finish titled For the Upliftment of Man (1983) and Ambivalent Hold (1983) were selected by the University, and can be found on the grounds of the Physical Sciences building. They were jointly sculpted by members of an art collective called SKEP.
Photos: DELA SCREENING & UNN CAMPUS
DELA: The Making of El Anatsui is a biographical documentary about one of the world's greatest sculptors. The Campus Tour aims to bring art and film students closer to the film's subject. It has so far, screened at Pan-Atlantic University Lagos, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). In Ghana, the tour will continue at the artist’s five alma mater institutions.
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El Anatsui's 'THREE ANGLES' Opens Carnegie International's 57th Edition
Ahead of the opening of the 57th Edition of The Carnegie International, which opens on October 13, 2018 , acclaimed sculptor EL Anatsui was in Pittsburgh PA for the installation of his most recent piece 'Three Angles', which covers the facade of the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Oyiza Adaba - Pittsburgh, PA
The Artist, EL Anatsui in front of Carnegie Museum of Art facade.
““It feels like an opening on the museum wall to the sky.””
Ahead of the opening of the 57th Edition of The Carnegie International, which opens on October 13, 2018 , acclaimed sculptor El Anatsui was in Pittsburgh PA for the installation of his most recent piece 'Three Angles', which covers the facade of the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Joining him at the pre-opening reception hosted by the museum was Pittsburgh-based Architect and Sculptor Dee Briggs, who fabricated the piece by galvanizing 21 young men and women of various ages from her Wilkinsburg community to work on it, over a five month period.
The piece combines aluminum printing plates sourced locally in Pittsburgh with metal (bottle caps) from Nsukka, and embeds 'triangular/meeting point/mirror' themes throughout. It will be the first time the artist has combined manpower and material across the continents to conceptualize and fabricate a piece.
"It feels like an opening on the museum wall to the sky", exclaimed Puala, a passerby who stopped to admire the hanging piece.
El Anatsui is one of 32 artists and collectives invited to participate in this prestigious art event, which takes place every 5 years. The exhibition is open through March 25, 2019.
DELA: The Making of El Anatsui is a biographical documentary about one of the world's greatest sculptors.
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El Anatsui & Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: Induction Ceremony To American Academy of Arts & Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AMACAD) inducted 204 new members at Havard University Cambridge on October 10 & 11, 2014 . They include some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders.
OYIZA ADABA - Cambridge, MA
Photos by Africa-RelATD
Letters of Acceptance line up the halls of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences at Havard University, Cambridge, MA.
El Anatsui & Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: Induction Ceremony to The American Academy of Arts & Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AMACAD) inducted 204 new members at Havard University Cambridge on October 10 & 11, 2014 . They include some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders. Two prominent Africans were also on the list - novelist & playwright Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o for Literary Criticism from University of California, Irvine; and former Professor of Arts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka El Anatsui as a Foreign Honorary Member in Visual Arts Criticism and Practice.
NEWLY ELECTED MEMBERS, APRIL 2014
TOTAL: 204
FELLOWS: 188
FOREIGN HONORARY MEMBERS: 16
EL Anatsui & Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Inducted
Since its founding in 1780, The Academy has served as a champion of scholarship, civil dialogue, and useful knowledge. As one of the country's oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, the Academy convenes leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing the United States and the rest of the world.
AMACAD’s membership encompasses over 4,600 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members; and reflects the full range of disciplines and professions including mathematics, physical and biological sciences, medicine, social sciences and humanities, business, government, public affairs, and the arts. Among the Academy's Fellows are more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize winners. The strength of the Academy lies in the intellectual leadership of its members and the wide range of expertise they bring to its studies and publications.
Letters of Acceptance Class of 2014
Past inductees include Nelson Mandela (2009), Albert Einstein (1924), Martin Luther King Jnr (1966), Bill Clinton (2006), Quincy Jones (2001), Thomas Jefferson (1987), Al Pacino (2014), George Washington (1781), Colin Powell (2009), Alan Alda (2006), Paul McCartney (2012), T.S Eliot (1954), Emmylou Harris (2009), Joan Miro (1961) and many more.
DELA: The Making of El Anatsui is a biographical documentary about one of the world's greatest sculptors. .
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