Nigerian Truck Art

Author(s): Jack Pritchett

Source: African Arts, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Feb., 1979), pp. 27-31
Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center
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 TRIJCK ART
NIIGERIAN
JACK PR TCHETT

Bruce Lee delivers a karate chop to a sagging
Wham!
adversary. Django finishes off a couple of bad hombres
with his six-shooter. These scenes take place not in a movie
theater but on the backs of huge freight trucks traveling along
the highways of Nigeria. Thousands of these wooden vehicles
have become the canvas of a thriving, gaudy new art form.
Photographer Lawrence Manning and I spent several months
pursuing trucks, questioning drivers and owners, and observ-
ing life in northern Nigerian cities to discover the origin of the
themes of kung fu violence and other, equally bold, images of
power that constantly appear on the trucks. Truck art can be
used as a window through which we can view a particularly
Nigerian view of life and death, a view expressed by a set of
images borrowed from various sources: the movies, growing
Nigerian nationalism and traditional folklore.
As our observations were carried out in the Muslim north,
they reflect the flavor of this region. Most of the trucks seen in
Zaria were from northern states (as indicated by license
plates), operating mainly out of important cities such as
Kaduna, Sokoto, Jos and Kano. The last two are centers of
truck art. Most of the paintings bore the names of northern
artists. Vehicles from other parts of Nigeria could be distin-
guished immediately by a difference in the themes of their
paintings. For example, the "Timber" motif revealed the
southern origin of one truck from heavily forested Anambra
State.
Artistry is concentrated mainly on four areas of the vehicle.
Most important is the tailgate painting, which in 1976 could
cost as much as 25 Naira (then $32-$38). Other parts of the
truck's body, such as fenders, doors, small side panels or mud
flaps, may be decorated as well with small detail paintings.
Something simple-a monochrome flower motif, for
example-often adorns the wooden sideboards, and a short
motto is commonly found just above the windshield, even on
trucks with no other paintings. Finally, spectacular work is
done on the inside back wall (usually a sheet of plywood) of
"bad guy" due to the characterization of Mexicans as villains
in westerns. Just how popular these movie images have be-
come is evident from counts made at different observation
points in and around Zaria city. Of 138 trucks with tailgate
paintings, 31 had "Chinese" pictures; another 14 showed
Django, often dragging the coffin that contains his deadly
machine gun. Indian films have also done their sha're to influ-
ence the artists. Their most pervasive theme is the hunter kill-
ing a lion, and one often sees this image on trucks.
The movie-goers, among them the truck artist, are generally
in their teens or twenties, male, and unmarried. When possi-
ble they dress in Western clothing, exhibiting a strong prefer-
ence for dark glasses and platform shoes. Many arrive at their
local cinema on shiny Hondas or fuming motor scooters. They
are part of the rapidly growing proletariat of young men with
primary or secondary education, displaced from their farms
and villages, who have flooded the cities in search of jobs,
opportunities and excitement. This group, restless and often
frustrated, is familiar to us from the characters in Cyprian
Ekwensi's novels or from Colin Turnbull's sketches of William
and Antoine in The LonelyAfrican. They are eagerly attuned to
the world outside Nigeria, hungry for its images
Uptwt
:.o

the driver's cab. There is absolutely no limit on ornamentation.

The immediate source of many truck paintings is the foreign
movie that plays each night before wildly enthusiastic audi-
ran S
..
ences. Italian-produced "spaghetti westerns," full of mayhem,
center around a rather taciturn and amoral cowboy named pd 114~
Django, who has become a favorite image in tailgate art. Even I•"' *~
,"i,"
SNO P~
more popular are very low-budget Chinese films made in
Hong Kong, which essentially are cheap imitations of the kung
I
fu movies starring Bruce Lee. The main ingredient of these
pictures is a vicious fight. Their wide-reaching effect on the
public's imagination is remarkable. In villages far from any
cinema, boys adopt a kung fu posture the moment a camera is
pointed in their direction. Film elements have crept into popu-
lar parlance. In both English and Hausa, tailgates with a
"Thunderkick" or a karate chop are referred to as "Chinese."
In Zaria, the Spanish word amigo has taken on the meaning of

27

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and symbols, heroes and thrills. This ex-
plains why on one tailgate painting with
the traditional theme of the hunter, the
figure wears Western hip-hugger pants
and platform shoes.
It should not be too far-fetched to see a
connection between the preoccupation
with violence portrayed in the art and
the constant danger on the highways.
Accident statistics for Nigeria are not eas-
ily available, but anyone who has
traveled by road in that country knows
the appalling number by sight. Acci-
dents are not only frequent but spectacu-
lar; many are head-on collisions that de-
stroy dozens of victims. Taxis and small
buses are very frequently involved.
Moreover, wreckage is seldom removed;
instead it is simply pushed to the road-
side to rust away as commemorative
sculpture. Letters to the editors of Nige-
rian newspapers have called for strong
government measures on licensing.
Some claim traffic deaths are epidemic
dew
04C3
r& )fBa y4
30
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and should be treated with the urgency
with which one would respond to an
outbreak of cholera or meningitis. The
accidents often involve the country's
elite, who own most of the cars; during
1976 Nigeria lost one ambassador and
two permanent secretaries, not to men-
tion the many other talented and scarce
professionals the country so badly
needs.
The theme of violence and power pre-
valent in truck painting is not found
among other forms of modern Nigerian
art. For example, decorated compound
fronts and stitched caps show clocks,
flags, bicycles and cars, but not Django
and Thunderkick. Zaria's Albarka
Cinema is a masterpiece of modern
Hausa decoration; its hundreds of im-
ages and designs include talking drums,
lizards and snakes, but no six-shooters.
Also, some drivers prefer elements from
their daily life rather than images of vio-
lence to be displayed on their vehicles.
~~4x
.6,W.
7;m
N proposes; God disposes" and "God's
I Suggestions of power appear in other
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The second most popular image is the
mosque. Here too, however, the outside
world seems to enter. The mosques often
look unlike any in Nigeria, having clus-
ters of fanciful, Middle-Eastern-type
minarets and domes, although certain
details, such as the dress of the worship-
pers, may be Nigerian. The exotic influ-
ence can be traced to the increased num-
bers of Hausa making the pilgrimage to
Mecca; in 1976 nearly 100,000 Nigerians
made the trek, most fronTthe northern
states. Representations of great mosques
also come back in the form of calendars,
postcards and Vu-master slides. A
mosque seen on one truck displayed ce-
ment block construction, which is sel-
dom used in the country; it signified
permanence and "modern" building
techniques.
Tailgate paintings of fierce birds are
popular too, primarily those important
in Hausa folklore such as the mikiya(grif-
fin) and shano (hawk), both symbols of
power. Birds of prey were most fre-
quently observed, followed by the lion.
Zaki, or lion, is a conventional Hausa
epithet shouted at a passing emir by
courtiers and praise singers. Comic ani-
mals, such as the monkey, or peaceful
animals, such as the rabbit or cow, ap-
peared rarely. Finally, stylized versions
of the Nigerian coat of arms as well as the
green and white national flag also are
painted on tailgates, evidence of a grow-
ing nationalism.
The mottos appearing over the
windshields of trucks exhibit a preoccu-
pation, once again, with the dangers of
the road. Particularly noticeable, and al-
ways written in Hausa, are many direct
pleas for divine protection: Allah ya
kiyaye or Allah ya tsaremu ("Allah protect
us"). Others simply place the driver's
fate in the hands of Allah: Ba mai yi, sai
Allah ("There is no doer, except Allah")
or Komai na Allah ("Everything belongs
to Allah"). Proverbs taken from didactic
pamphlets, intended to display sophisti-
cation, are also found above the
windshield. Two favorites are "Man
case, no appeal." Another popular motto
reminds oncoming drivers that "no con-
dition is permanent." The fears ex-
pressed in this written form are more
clearly found in everyday oral usage.
The Peugot 504 station wagon, widely
used as a fast, long-distance taxi, has
been characterized by the nicknames
Shiga da alwalla ("Enter with a prayer")
and Dafa duka ("Cook everything," a ref-
erence to fiery crashes).
aspects of truck art. Superman was seen
flying off a small panel of one old vehicle.
The Koton Karfe trucking line is named
after a town in Benue State, but in Hausa
kotonkarfemeans "metal giant," an obvi-
ous reference to the strength of the truck.
The door of one Koton Karfe truck bore a
 painting of a pistol and James Bond's
code number. In case the meaning of -------
these emblems should somehow be
overlooked, the driver has added a
further notation: "No molest." The ex-
planation for the dominance of the
power theme is not difficult to find.
Since its introduction into Nigeria, the
automobile has been a strong status i
symbol, a preserve of the titled, the in- !I
•.:i:.:.
:".;,
fluential and the wealthy. Nadel recounts
in A BlackByzantium that the Etsu Nupe
was the first Nupe to own a car. The
situation remains much the same today, .. .....
.:
save that the car-owning elite has grown
*t
to include military officers, senior civil
.
servants and prosperous merchants.
More than ever, the automobile repre-
sents success and with it, influence.
The association of trucks with power
has affected the driving habits of the
Nigerian populace. The unwritten rule
seems to be that everything and every-
one must give way to trucks. Groups of
women walking to market scramble for
the roadside ditches as these unruly ve-
hicles careen along at reckless speeds
through intersections. The women usu-
ally climb back onto the highway, laugh- NA:
ing at the incident as if to dismiss it as a
routine occurrence.
Truck art is a significant part of a new
art form developing in Nigeria. Their
version of pop culture also includes large
scenes done on the walls of small bars
and motels, signboards for barbers de-
picting various hairstyles, and the
novels, plays and stories collectively
known as Onitsha market literature.
Printed by small local presses, these pub-
lications arose out of life in the cities. The
aim of the new art movement is to edu-
cate the public to the evils and vanities of
the world, often expressing such pious
sentiments as "Money is hard to get, but
easy to spend," or "Drunkards believe
bar is heaven." Allah ya sa mu dace ("Al-
lah let us do right") is found to be very
popular as well. The new art reflects
simultaneously this determinedly
moralistic tone and the drivers' affilia-
tion with the modern world, to which a
knowledge of English is an important
key. English mottos occur particularly on
southern trucks, though they may also
appear on those whose tailgates were
painted in the northern city of Jos. Both
truck art and the new literature express Nrr
gCI
ideas of a burgeoning class of young
people who have left their villages for the gnjud eb
faster life. The results are bold and origi- fRrIAh
N~i ?r J? T
LMO7iN
nal creations.
Unlike the market pamphlets, truck
art is not restricted to the literate. A
bold rendition of the Nigerian flag
painted on a truck carries the concept of
nationalism into the remote corners of
Nigeria. Thus, the lorries entering vil-
lages to collect firewood spread the im-
ages of the truck artists that might
otherwise never be seen. O

31

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