BANKOLE TAIWO writes about a nine-year-old boy’s passion for visual art and how he is harnessing his talent for the benefit of society
Joshua Morenikeji is just nine but his dream to be the most sought-after visual artist across the globe is as strong and unmistakable.
The Primary Four pupil of the Federal College of Education Staff School, Osiele, Abeokuta, Ogun State, is gradually raising his reputation as one of Nigeria’s youngest visual artists.
His relatively young age and tiny stature notwithstanding, the child prodigy’s exploits in pencil sketches have caught the attention of many prominent individuals, including the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and his deputy, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, both of whom have had their impressive pencil drawings presented to them.
Impressed by a sketch presented to her by the boy, Salako-Oyedele took to her Facebook page to encourage him.
“I met eight-year-old prodigy, Morenikeji Ebunoluwa Joshua, a talented young artist when he came to present a portrait he made of me. In our discussion. Interestingly, Joshua said he wants to be in the Army when he grows up. Art is his hobby, I wish him the very best,” the deputy governor stated in her Facebook post in October 2023.
Interestingly, Joshua turned the sitting room of his parents’ two-bedroom apartment in the staff quarters of the FCE, Osiele, into a miniature art gallery.
The walls of the sparsely furnished room were adorned with well-executed pencil drawings of who-is-who across the globe.
Among them are the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and his wife; King Charles 111 of England, Governor Abiodun, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde; and the lawmaker representing Ogun West in Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, among other notable individuals.
Speaking with Sunday PUNCH recently, Joshua said he must have started drawing at about age four using what he described as a divine gift.
“I started drawing at age four and this I believe is a divine gift just like my name ‘Ebunoluwa’. But before I started drawing, I had always loved playing with the building block toys,” he said with a smile.
“Sometimes I will arrange them to form a house and other things that catch my fancy or interest me. I would want to keep them for my parents to see but my elder brother and younger sister would scatter them before they (my parents) came.
“That was how I began drawing those things that come to my mind on paper so that I can keep them and show them to my parents whenever they come around and that was how the journey started, I just found out that art has chosen me,” he added.
He showed promising signs early – Father
Corroborating his story, Joshua’s father, Bosun Morenikeji, revealed that he and his wife started noticing his son’s passion for creating things early, and wasted no time by getting the boy drawing materials to explore his talent.
He said, “What I noticed some years back was that he was always fighting with his other siblings over building block toys. Even after giving him like 60 building blocks, he would still be asking his brother and sister to give him more of their own.
“But I later paid more attention to him and I found out that while his siblings were just playing with the building blocks, he was constructing something more tangible with his blocks like building a house, arranging someone on a bicycle, and from that time, I kept him under watch. I bought them more of these toys so that he can always have more than enough to work with.”
Morenikeji said the nine-year-old began his artistic journey with a sketch of one of his neighbours.
“One early morning – that should be around some minutes before 5 am – I woke up to find him in the sitting room. The children have their room, so I quietly tiptoed to where he was, and having seen that he was drawing, I went back to bed thinking of how he came about such a gift.
“At daybreak, we found out that he had made a pencil drawing of one of our neighbours who he saw riding a bicycle the previous day and the drawing was very much like the person. I had to go and get him drawing pads and from that day, he has not looked back,” he said.
Morenikeji added that because of Joshua’s relatively young age, sometimes, people doubted his ability and queried his capacity to get the drawings done.
“That is why we often make video recordings whenever he’s drawing to show such doubting Thomases that he did it all by himself,” he said.
Creativity runs in the family – Mother
However, his wife, Taiwo, believes their son’s talent could be a gift that runs in the family.
“Joshua’s story is exactly as told by his father and since we saw the path that God had chosen for him, we have been giving him all the support that he deserves. While watching television, he began asking us who the people shown on TV were and we explained to him.
“The next thing was for him to plead with us to get the photographs of those people after which he sketched them. Maybe the gift of creativity runs in the family; for instance, I do a lot of things – bags, hats, shoes, etc – with beads and nobody taught me, I just started it out of boredom while still waiting to get a job. I have also been training people for the craft; I want to believe that the creativity gene is in the family,” she explained.
Joshua said though his love for art is deeply rooted, he has not allowed his education to suffer.
“I do my drawings after I am done with my school work and assignments and most of my time on weekends is devoted to drawing too, so my school work is not affected in any way,” he said,
The nine-year-old boy told our Sunday PUNCH that he has over 200 pencil sketches to his credit and that his drawings were done within one to two hours.
He said his artistic skills had opened doors of opportunities for him and given access to prominent individuals to whom he presented their drawings.
“These dignitaries include President Bola Tinubu, Governor Dapo Abiodun, the Deputy Governor (of Ogun State), Noimot Salako-Oyedele, the Chairman of Orisun Television, Femi Aderibigbe; the Chief Executive Officer of Nike Art Gallery, Chief Nike Okundaye; and popular gospel singer, Tope Alabi, among others.
“I always feel highly honoured and encouraged to be so appreciated and recognised by these eminent Nigerians,” he added.
Other drawings adorning his parents’ sitting room are those of the wife of the Ogun State governor, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun; Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke; business mogul, Femi Otedola, Adetola Emmanuel King of Adron Homes, and popular hip-hop artiste, Davido, among others.
For his skills, he has also won several awards, including the Youngest Visual Artist of the Year 2023 received in Lagos last December.
The visual artist listed two art enthusiasts and promoters, Okundaye and the owner of the Museum of Arts, Prince Yemisi Shyllon, as his role models saying that he hopes to become the face of global excellence in art from Nigeria.
To live up to that, he said his current project was to draw 1,000 faces of high-impact personalities across the globe.
Joshua said “I am currently working on drawing 1.000 faces of people who have impacted the world for the good of all. It is my little way of appreciating their contributions and encouraging them to do more.
“My challenge, however, is that I don’t have a studio or gallery where I can keep my artwork. I need one to preserve these jobs. I also wish to have an exhibition of collections of these drawings maybe twice a year. So I need sponsorship and support of corporate organisations and individuals to get the project started.”
