The Creative Force And Artistic Creativity: From The Garden Of Eden To The Garden City Of Port Harcourt - By Prof. Julie Umukoro

The central focus of this discourse is creation and re-creation. God the creator, as the very essence of the creative force in our universe is the prime mover, who wields the magic wand to create by declaration while man, His alter ego, is wired to use his resourcefulness to artistically re-create through imitation and creativity.

In other words, God Creates but man re-
creates and in that capacity, he is a creative artist suffused with the sublimity of the creative force.

Leaning on the Christian worldview that God created man in His image and likeness, Esler (2016) sees “our ability to create and be creative as an expression of Him in us.”

Of the vast multitude and variety of creative artists that abound in our universe, the focus of today’s lecture
is the performing artist in his spatial domain of spatial illusion.

The spatial domain in this context
is the artist’s work-space, while spatial illusion designates the illusory content of performance within the artistic space.

This discourse takes the liberty therefore, to coin the following kinds of artistic work-spaces: the mystical space, the universal space, and the magical space.

The mystical space in this case is the Garden of Eden, God’s workspace for creation.

On the other hand, the universal space is man’s workspace just as the magical space is the workspace of the theatrical or performing artist.

Thus man’s artistic consciousness to build or to re-create that underpins this segment of our discourse is anchored on a priority – that foundational knowledge of the ‘how’, the ‘whys’ and the ‘wherefores’ drawn on established dogmas that mobilize creative
actions.

However, to accomplish these set objectives, man must do so, not by the flourish of such mystical potent utterances of God, his benefactor, but by a persevering life of work and struggles
“through the sweat of his brow.” (Gen.3:19).

This involves experiential and experimental learning processes; hence the vision of creation in the universal space has rested wholly on learning and performance theories.

Through the partnership of God’s creative spirit as the reactive agent in him, man in his quest had in fulfillment of God’s creation mandate, been motivated to create or re-create with a handsome dose of discretion and imagination be it in the physical world or on the stage world.

Man’s prowess in creation is appreciated in his creative works scattered all over the universe where he has conquered space with spaceships of kinds, land with automobiles of kinds, and sea with ships of many designs.

In making the universe his home, he has skyscrapers modeled on the biblical Tower of Babel and for longevity; he has a world full of antidotes.

Man’s escapades of creation in the scientific world have moved from Dolly, the first cloned sheep to the world’s first ‘test tube’ baby in 1978.

Electricity and recently, Solar energy, have greatly improved man’s living conditions in the universe.

Satellites, the Internet, and celluloid have also created new paths in our communication styles.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong made history as the first astronaut to land on the moon.

Talking more about man’s breakthrough concerning energy, China has recently announced the creation of an artificial sun!

Quite often, man has been found
to encounter mishaps in his quest for new creations, and very often, deaths and disasters occur.

There have been airplane disasters, shipwrecks, and even worldwide pandemics threatening the universe with extinction.

The Coronavirus saga of 2020 is a veritable case in point where man’s
Escapades have caused humanity great pain.

The universe here is thus presented as the workspace of man.

In a further development, man in his restlessness had created for his pleasure, the magical space -the stage – that phantom world of the theatre where he assumes the posture of a demi-god.

Thus, like God his creator who fashioned him in His image and likeness, man did not stop at creating the phantom world of the theatre but, in imitation of God his creator, has created the performing artist in his own image and likeness!

In his theatrical world therefore, man
assumes the image of “creator” or producer.

By this token, the performing artist as demigod is creator par excellence in the magical space – the stage – .

What then is the place of the Garden City of Port Harcourt in the artistic worldview of performance in Nigeria today?

Today, the Garden City of Port Harcourt, having been transmogrified into an artistic performance centre through the infusion of the artistic creative energies of performing artists, is paradoxically our perfect example of the magical workspace of the performing artist.

As there are different kinds of creative artists in the Garden City of Port Harcourt, so there are available different kinds of work-spaces, and each kind varies considerably from the other regarding the specificity of the kind.

This presents the Garden City of Port Harcourt as a hosting ground for a variety of creative artists, most especially the performing artist.

Talking about performance spaces and grounds within the macro-space of the
Garden City, we have the Council for Arts and Culture, the radio and television houses, the institutional-based theatres (universities and secondary schools), hotel courtyards, and auditoriums of corporate establishments, church yards or fields, professional theatres, cinema houses, civic centres, event centres, market places, beaches, water-fronts, river surfaces for regatta performances and indeed the open streets of Port Harcourt that hosted the annual Carnival – CARNIRIV – for seven consecutive years (2007-2014).

This has in turn instituted the social
grooming that has superimposed on the city of Port Harcourt the image of the mythical EDEN along with its aesthetic aura.

The Garden City of Port Harcourt as a terrestrial equivalent of the Garden of Eden is transposed and becomes for us the magical creative space.

However, in contrast to Eden which presents only one supernatural being as Creator – the ALMIGHTY GOD – the creator image in artistic re-creation in Port Harcourt is provided by diverse art practitioners.

Both gardens, in a metaphorical sense, are playing spaces for either the mystical or magical experience accordingly.

However, in contrast, only one multi-talented Gardener, God, the supreme creative artist, tended the Garden of Eden while numerous specialists in their rights as artistic gardeners today, engineer the artistic process in the Garden City of Port Harcourt.

As professional agents of artistic creativity, they are perceived as splinter images of God’s creative essence who piece together their artistic ideas to create a composite whole – the complete picture of a dynamic artistic creation.

From these springs the new-class – performing artists – greatly venerated for their rare ability to practically re-create from imagination the illusory content of the dramatic performance.

The performing artist rules supreme in his phantom world where he exercises his power to re-create through the interplay of WORDS, ACTION and MOVEMENT in SPACE.

However, unlike the Garden of Eden with the embargo of the forbidden fruit, there is absolute freedom in the Garden City of Port Harcourt to eat or experience EVERYTHING; from the city’s culinary arts to its creative arts; and here MONEY as bait assumes the image of the SERPENT. 

This thus brings to an end at this point, my epic intellectual journey, from the Garden of Eden to the Garden City of Port Harcourt. 

About the Author 

Prof Julie Umukoro is  of the department of Theatre & Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.  She is a seasoned academic with a panache that not only sets apart her academic contributions but endorses her artistic ingenuity in the creative writing industry. Her works, cut across the different genres of prose, drama and poetry, and appeal to the sensibilities of a variety of audiences. She is woman of many parts: a social activist, a philanthropist and a leading voice in the campaign for the girl-child education.

Professor Julie Umukoro is a fulbright scholar and the President of the United States Government Exchange Alumni Association , Rivers State Chapter.

She is affiliated to a number of  professional bodies among which are:

• ​Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA)

• ​National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP)

• ​Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA)

•​ Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FAAN)

• ​International Association of Theatre and Film Critics (IATC)

•   Association of Ndokwa Professionals in Academia (ANPA)

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