Painters, blacksmiths and wordsmiths: building molues in Lagos

African Arts, Autumn, 2008 by Damola Osinulu

[FIGURE 13 OMITTED]

Another prime example of Subversion by Addition is the addition of flashing emergency lights on the tops of the molues (Fig. 10). In a state where government officials--isolated agents of the state--strategically break through grid-locked traffic with their sirens and flashing lights, molue owners have responded with their own tactic of flashing but powerless lights. Surely, this is the "art of the weak."

SHEET METAL CANVAS

In addition to abstract patterns, molue operators are fond of images. Unlike the patterns, images are typically not applied by the painters but by sign-writers and artists commissioned by the bus owner. Images can be hand painted over the yellow paint scheme or can be created as applications of sticky-backed cutouts created by the artists. Sulaiman, an artist with a group known simply as "Writer" described to me how he could cut various shapes out of different colored appliques and layer them to create the desired image. The applique is also used to create abstract patterns and written texts.

The largest tableaus are typically found on the back of the bus. In some buses, the absence of a rear window is articulated by a lightly colored rectangle in its place. This faux-windshield becomes the blank slate on which the artist renders (Fig. 13). The space below the rear windshield and above the bumper is also used as a canvas for large images and patterns. The rear of the bus is a particularly strategic location because images here are easily viewed by the drivers and passengers of private cars and taxis stuck in traffic behind the bus. Passengers in other buses have their view restricted, for the most part, to the side windows and can therefore see only the images on the sides of other buses. Buses receive images on their sides but they are not as consistent, prominent, or ubiquitous as those on the backs of buses.

[FIGURE 14 OMITTED]

The images on molues are quite diverse but three key themes can be identified--religious, patriotic, and global/American. Religious imagery can be interpreted as an act of devotion. On one molue, the owners displayed the head of Christ with a crown of thorns, highlighted by a sky-blue heart. The words "Jesus Christ I Trust in You" float above the heart (Fig. 13). Those words reveal that beyond acts of devotion, this image is apotropaic. (This protective function is further explored in the section below on Text as Prayer.)

Patriotism comes to the fore when one discovers Nigerian flags and accompanying patriotic statements on molues (Fig. 14). Despite all the hardships of being a molue operator and conflicts with the agents of the state, these patriotic displays point to the owners' commitment to the national project and the regard with which they hold their national identity.

The global perspective adopted by many bus operators manifests itself as a love of things American. America, after all, is still the dominant player in the global exchange of goods and ideas. One might spot a molue with an American flag (Fig. 15) or the Statue of Liberty. Donald Cosentino reminds of us a similar scenario in Port-au-Prince, where the Canadian flag is absorbed by the visual culture of Haitian Tap-Taps (1988:40, 41). In this global exchange of cultural commodities, molue artists pick from a library of world images to use in their artwork. Sulaiman and his coworker at "Writer" Sign Writers, for instance, are quite fond of Mickey Mouse. Arjun Appadurai provides some rational for this artistic assimilation when he claims that "electronic mediation and mass migration mark the world of the present not as technically new forces but as ones that seem to impel (and sometimes compel) the work of the imagination'' (1996:4). In such a world, where images do not respect borders, non-Americans can lay claim to the American flag. Furthermore, these people can project their own meaning on the flag and, as Appadurai suggests, put imagination to work in their daily existence (ibid., p. 5).