Surprise comes in different ways. Good surprises, bad surprises, shock or bewilderment. I’m telling a story of a ten-year-old girl, myself, who faced all of these through a single event.
It was my last year of primary school. The primary school I attended is owned by a renowned Church in Nigeria and had different branches of the school scattered across the nation. And there were different competitions held every year. Each competition would be held across the schools nationwide in a particular branch And so this particular competition which was on Art, was to be hosted by the school at Calabar.
Unfortunately, I fell sick and missed the deadline to submit my artwork for the competition. I was utterly devastated. However, a few hours before the trip to Calabar for the contest, the Fine Arts teacher informed me that there had been a new development with one of the contestants and I would have to defend his work in his absence. He said he chose me because my last project was a collage like this one and thus, I knew the rudiments of making a collage.
“So…. You’re going there to win right?” he asked.
“I don’t know Sir,” I said, glancing at the artwork for the first time. “But I’ll try.”
“If I wanted someone who would try, I’d have sent anyone. You’re going to win.” He said, firmly and confidently.
I stared at the artwork with obvious displeasure as we began the trip. It was a collage of four oranges in a bowl. It was simple. Too simple. How was I to win a competition with such a simple work and why were the oranges of different colours? I know my teacher’s confidence in me was misplaced, but I had to at least try. I only hoped he wouldn’t feel too disappointed with what I knew was the obvious outcome.
We got there and in no time the competition began. It was just to stand by your artwork and answer any question the judges had for you. I looked at the artwork from the other school branches. They were so beautiful, too beautiful even. It was obvious even to me that most of them weren’t made solely by the students, but it was okay. I had already resigned myself to just having fun and enjoying the show.
My work was tagged 001. So, I was the first person the judges came to. I’d already overcome anxiety when it came to talking to older people, but I was still slightly nervous. They asked me what the artwork was and how long it took me to make it, to which I replied “approximately two hours”(my insides were a whirlpool of emotions because why did I have to say 'approximately'😭). They asked one or two more questions which I answered and just when I was about to feel relieved, the million-dollar question came.
“We do not understand. Each of the oranges is both green and yellow in, instead of just one colour. Why?”
At that moment, I felt my brain relax. Up on till that moment, I didn’t know how to answer that question but suddenly, it came to me.
“It’s to show authenticity. We live in a tropical country where oranges are not one colour. I was trying to depict the originality in an unripe orange slowly going through the natural process of becoming ripe.”
At this point, blood was pounding in my ears. I had never been more grateful for the fact that I read books like now. Because where did all those words come from? They just nodded though and moved to the next person.
The event lasted a while, going through all the artwork of the different schools. I remember sitting down on a chair, eager to go home. The judges started announcing the result and when I heard the winning artwork as 001, I started clapping, happy for the winner. Then other students from my school started shouting and running towards me and that’s when I realized. '001.' I was '001.’ I just stood numbly as my teachers started carrying me up and swinging me around. I was too shocked to even say anything. I soon recovered from it and started rejoicing with others. My Fine Arts teacher kept patting my back and telling me that he knew I could do it.
Days later, I was given an award in my school as the Best Art Student alongside another of my mate whose artwork had come in fourth place . Fast-forward to my graduation day, I was elated as I looked at the yearbook seeing my name in the Acknowledgments as the student that led the school to victory.
It was however to my greatest shock to hear another name being called upon to be given the award as the Best in Art. I turned to my equally surprised parents. I promptly started crying. My parents then went to the Arts teacher with me in tow and inquired as to why another person was given the award when my name was on the yearbook. My Arts teacher simply said that the student that was given the award(who by the way didn’t even go to the competition), was better at drawing.
I was too bewildered to say a word and just told my parents that I wanted to go home. They comforted me and soon enough I forgot about it. But it remained one of the most surprising series of events in my life.
Thanks for reading.❤️