Pan Africanism and Early Artwork
In the 1950s, Nigeria's campaign for self rule was dominated by two major ideas on how to achieve a truly independent and stable polity. One was based on regions as the foundation of the nation-state and politicians used the regions as a stepping stone for political success, the other embraced the ideas that emanated from the early Nigerian Youth Movement and the Zikist Movements to employ themes of Pan-Africanism and to forgo the regions as the foundation of the future Nigerian polity. In his art work, Nwoko moved slightly towards the latter. Nwoko's early sculpture and painting style were inspired by the findings at Nok. A lot of his early sculptures and paintings can be described as one of extrapolation. His terracotta's were designs that extended and expressed the art forms of the Ancient Nok with less deviation from an ancient African theme. This allowed the work to express less ambiguity and more clarity of intentions and to showcase a modern African art form.
Read more about this topic: Demas Nwoko
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