Graffiti in Lagos by artists using Avatar inspiration

Nigerian artist Chuka Obi made a painting in Lagos as part of the celebrations leading up to the countrywide cinema premiere of Avatar: The Way of the Water on December 16, 2022.

Graffiti artist Uduakabasi Akpan, one of the artists, commented on the project, saying, “I’m a major fan of James Cameron’s work. He is someone I look up to for his fantastic storytelling and as an artist, and that is the motivation behind the work.

“The story we are communicating through this is in two folds,” he added. “The first is that not everything had to be digital art, and occasionally we must create tangible art to motivate future artists.

Additionally, the graffiti, the narrative we are attempting to convey about the film, and the fact that it is a very large cinematic film all contribute to the film’s status as a magnificent work of art.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was first released in December 2009, will soon have a sequel, and Chuka Obi reiterated that the location chosen for the graffiti artwork is beautiful enough to attract people’s attention to the painting.

Avatar earned nearly $2.8 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of all time. James Cameron will helm the sequel to the enthralling Avatar tale, ending the wait for more of the movie’s thrilling plot.

The second half of the movie took nearly three years to shoot. In order to give his viewers the finest of his actors, Cameron also placed high demands on them.

A large portion of the ensemble had to record underwater scenes in a 900,000-gallon tank constructed for the movies. The motion-capture procedure was hampered by dive gear and water bubbles, so the actors had to spend months

Currently, thanks to Filmone Entertainment’s distribution, the film has earned over 185 million dollars in theaters.

Graffiti artist Uduakabasi Akpan, one of the artists, commented on the project, saying, “I’m a major fan of James Cameron’s work. He is someone I look up to for his fantastic storytelling and as an artist, and that is the motivation behind the work.

This tells a dual narrative: first, it shows that not all art needs to be created digitally; sometimes, tactile creations are necessary to arouse the creativity of upcoming generations of artists.

It was a labor of love to create because of the graffiti, the movie’s plot, the size of the production, and the tale it tells.

In response to a question on how widely accepted graffiti is in Nigeria, he said: “I have had the luxury of traveling to other areas of the world and I have observed that this form of art we made here is not popular in Lagos like other major cities in the world.

For kids to take an interest in and expand upon graffiti art, Lagos State should adopt it and teach it in classrooms.

I’ve traveled the world with this form of art, and I think others can experience the same thing. It’s difficult to predict the future of graffiti art in Nigeria because many people still consider it vandalism and some still believe it isn’t art worth pursuing.

Nevertheless, here I am as a graffiti artist creating something amazing and graffiti art has done a lot for me.

I enjoy the exposure that the profession brings, even though it goes beyond money.
The Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) fine art and painting graduate described the significance of the work to the metropolis of Lagos by saying: “This is a futuristic Lagos.

In addition to cinematic characters that come to life on the painting, our work includes elements of Lagos.