By Asuquo Cletus
The Hope Waddel Training Institute has held a Cross River State Art and Cultural Exhibition Trade Fair, as part of its 130 years anniversary celebration of the institute.
The school, established in 1895, is one of Nigeria’s oldest secondary schools and has produced very important leaders.
Speaking to Journalists on Tuesday at the Calabar Sport Club in Cross River, the convener of the event Mr Effiong Nyong disclosed that the anniversary is put together to display a few stories of art, cultural heritage that were not shown and captured.
He noted that the choosing of the 1898 Calabar Sport Club as venue for the event is as a result of its long standing heritage, as the only sports club in Nigeria after the Lagos Lawn Tennis club focused on combining various sports with recreational activities.
“ The idea simply was that, more like filling the gap, looking at what we’ve been doing for many years, everybody comes to Calabar, or comes to Cross River State.
“When they come, we do the dances, we do all of that. And I see a huge chunk of our history and heritage that are not captured or represented.
“And we just thought that the government cannot do all, and that there’s something that the citizens can do to bring to the fore those aspects of our existence and lives that are not captured and present them to the world, especially from the angle of history, from the angle of heritage, which is almost one and the same.
“Again, we had to do some research, discovering that the Calabar Sports Club was founded in 1898. The only club that existed before the Calabar Sports Club is the Lagos Lawn and Tennis Club, where they play lawn tennis.
“But not a social club of this magnitude, for recreation, for different sports. So when we look at the social club in Calabar Sports Club, 1898 is the first.
”In the very first year, we held this exhibition, which showcased the Fernandez Studio. Fernandez has a studio on Egerton Street in Calabar, and the story building there is written, Fernandez Studio, 1926.
“Now, it shows that there was photography in Cross River State as far back as 1926. When that building was put up, Fernandez existed long before that time to be able to put up that studio.
“So we approached the family, and they took those years. They still have some photographs that their father took during his lifetime. And they brought the photographs, some of them tartar, some of them torn.
“And we decided to celebrate it, to show to the world that before other clubs started celebrating themselves, we started celebrating life in Cross River State in Calabar.
Mr Nyong expressed disappointment over the lack of government interest in portraying art. He described it as “bottlenecks” on the part of the government.
He called on the State government to support art, as a way of celebrating Cross Riverians who are into the business of art.
Highlights of the event was the opening of an art exhibition gallery at the calabar sport club, movie among others.
