Accra (Greater Accra) 12 January 2002 - A Ghanaian painter, Zima Ma-Nyenzi, on Friday burnt three of his masterpieces at an exercise called "Passion Day", at Teshie Tsui-Bleo, a suburb of Accra.
The 10-minute burning exercise, witnessed by journalists, is a sequel to two earlier burning exercises, dubbed "Fire Day" on similar date, January 11, the two previous years, as a silent message Zima wished to send to the world.
The bigger painting, the size of which was about two meters by one depicting a group of farmers sitting around and breaking a heap of cocoa pods took six months to complete.
The other two smaller paintings, which were covered with pieces of a black cloth with three finger flames, before they were set ablaze took two and three months respectively, to complete.
When everything was set, Zima, who would neither disclose the reason for the titles of the day and the date, solemnly took a large bottle of kerosene, poured some of the liquid on all the three paintings and struck a matchstick, burning all the three paintings.
As the paintings went into flames, the observers sat spellbound wondering the significance of this seemingly odd act. The burning left skeletal T shape on the large wawa plywood on which the masterpieces hung.
Speaking through a spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel D. Nikoi, Chief Editor, GBC Radio Newsroom, Zima insisted that he could not place value on the masterpieces but "they are priceless works of painting."
On how long he would continue giving the "silent message" and when he would disclose the hidden message of his action , Ma-Nyenzi replied, "time will tell". Mr Cyril Acolatse, Head of Current Affairs of GBC Radio News Department , who was the Guest of Honour, said the "Passion Day" marked the second anniversary of the first "Fire Day" during which the audience were similarly held spellbound by the activity.
Mr Acolatse wondered what the real meaning of burning exercises could be and asked: "Are we here to see a fit of anger which transforms into great enthusiasm to set ablaze the masterpieces? What could be the cause of the extreme anger of Ma-Nyenzi as to make him subject his masterpieces to such unusual suffering and death?
"We may also want to ask whether there is no love dimension in the act of painting and whether it is a kind of lost love that has driven Zima to this point of turning objects of beauty into ashes?"
Mr Acolatse, himself a painter, pointed out that, "nature abhors vacuum and what is lost must be replaced somehow. This is the complication or the puzzle that we are faced with."
He recalled a comment by Mr. J. S. Addo, one-time Governor of the Bank of Ghana at the first burning exercise, that 'the burning of such highly valuable paintings of a most expensive African painter is objectionable and raises difficult questions to be answered.
He said, "if Zima could not be convinced to desist from burning his works, he should be allowed to follow his convictions." He expressed the wish that the message of the burning exercise did not remain forever obscure, but the painter would one day come out to disclose it.
GRi../
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