Art works have healing effects on people, says Nike Okundaye

Mrs Nike Okundaye, Founder, Nike Art Gallery in Lagos on Monday advised the public to always display art works in their homes for their therapeutic effects on the mind and soul.

Okundaye told our correspondent in Lagos that “People who live around art works do not fall sick easily.

“For instance, I have beautiful images, drawings and paintings around my home.’’

She added that the essence of art works was to provide beautification and also serves as a platform for rehabilitating the society.

“Art works are beautiful and therapeutic; even growing trees around the environment is a form of arts that has its healing effects on the society.

“Some of these paintings done with colours are so soothing to the eyes that they instantly give a relief of calmness and satisfaction just by looking at them,” she said.

The artist said that stocking art collections was also advantageous because it served as a form of investment noting that the value of art works appreciates with time.

“Art works are not like shares that can lose their values in a short while. Art works are like investing in gold or diamond which appreciates in value over time.

“The late Ben Enwonwu’s art work that was bought by a Briton for less than N10,000 some years back was recently sold for $1.68 million at an auction in London.

“That is the beauty of investing in art works which is a multi-million dollar business all over the world,’’ she said.

Okundaye advised the public to shun the superstitious belief that local art works were evil and that some images were possessed and haunted by spirits.

“In many parts of Africa, people believe that an image in the house might be possessed by spirits and may have negative effects on its residents.

“This is a misconception and people who have that kind of belief are suffering from ignorance.

“There is nothing mystical about art works,” she said.

She said that all the mysticism about arts was embedded into our culture by the whites to denigrate the African culture for the purpose of promoting theirs.

Okundaye advised the people to continue searching for their origins and embrace their cultural values as a way of promoting their true identities.