After another year marked by extremes weather conditions, globally, from unprecedented heat waves in Europe that saw airport runways buckle to catastrophic flooding in Pakistan and Nigeria, which left a third of the country underwater and nearly 2,000 dead, the environment faces serious threats.
Last year, the gallery also hosted Recycled Matter, a group exhibition of exploratory works that took vivid look at materiality and the environment. The show examined issues originating from the local, but connected with vital global conversation: between human beings and their environment. For Blaise, it is how human beings treat the environment that has led to the global problems mankind faces. He joins the renowned African poet, Professor Niyi Osundare, as a climate soldier. Last year, Osundare unveiled his new collection of poetry, Green: Sighs of an Ailing Planet, a critical pastoral of poems concerning the environment around the world.
Each year, human activities release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove, causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase. The most recent UN climate summit brought mixed results for adaptation and left many disappointed. On one hand, COP27 achieved an historic breakthrough, with wealthy nations agreeing to establish a fund to support vulnerable countries in responding to losses and damages caused by climate change. On the other, despite adaptation being a central focus of the summit, key decisions on finance and implementation fell short of expectations.
He went ahead to get a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts /Arts History graduating as the best student in his university.