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The African Maritime Art Exhibition (AMAE), in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art (NGA), has deepened its coastal creativity and ocean literacy campaign with a vibrant outreach in Makoko, Lagos, where artists led children and youths in painting and drawing the waterfront community’s seascape directly on water while engaging in live mentorship sessions.
Unlike conventional classroom-based art training, the Makoko edition unfolded in an immersive waterfront setting. Professional artists from the National Gallery of Art worked alongside trainees on floating platforms and canoes, sketching and painting the dense stilt settlement and its surrounding lagoon environment in real time. The result was a living canvas of Makoko’s seascape captured on water as much as on paper.
Convener of AMAE, Ezinne Azunna, said the programme is designed as a structured, multi-stage creative intervention aimed at long-term skills development for children in coastal communities.
“They also entered into a one-month competition stage because the schools will submit their artworks to an independent jury. The best 10 works will be featured at the AMAE 2026 Exhibition and Conference later this year.”
She added that the initiative is intended to reposition how coastal children perceive their environment not as a limitation, but as a source of opportunity and creative capital.
Representing the Director-General of the National Gallery of Art, Mr. Ahmed Sodangi, the West Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Babalola Oladipo-Adetayo, described the programme as a transformative exposure for children in Makoko, noting that coastal living offers untapped cultural and economic potential.
President of the Africa Women’s Fish Processors and Traders Network (AWFISHNET), Nigerian Chapter, Oluwafunmilola Shelika, represented by Mrs. Mgbeoma Kuye, encouraged participants to view artistic skills as viable income pathways within the maritime value chain, noting that creative expression can complement existing coastal livelihoods.
The Chairman of the occasion and Director of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) Nigeria Centre, Dr. Akanbi Williams, commended the initiative for linking art, environmental education and ocean awareness. He said such programmes help children articulate their maritime identity while strengthening stewardship of fragile coastal ecosystems.
He also highlighted ongoing collaboration between the International Ocean Institute Nigeria Centre, AMAE, and the Eco Restoration Mangrove Sanctuary and Research Centre in advancing ocean literacy, coastal conservation, and community engagement across Nigeria’s shoreline settlements.
The programme climaxed with live artistic demonstrations led by National Gallery of Art artists; Blissing Uzaoatuegwu, Taiwo Owoyemi, and James Itodo, who guided children and youth in sketching and painting scenes of Makoko’s lagoon environment while simultaneously producing their own works on the water.
Organisers described the “Paint Your Coast” initiative, already implemented in Akodo-Ise and Makoko, as part of broader efforts to advance Nigeria’s blue economy by equipping coastal youth with creative and environmental skills while repositioning waterfront communities as centres of innovation, culture, ocean literacy, and sustainable opportunity.
