After months of build-up to this event, 15 years old contemporary art prodigy, Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke (Kanye) finally began his attempt at breaking a world record. Iranian artist, Emad Saheli’s artwork (measured at 9,652m²) currently holds the Guinness World Record for the largest art on canvas. Kanye Tagbo-Okeke on the other hand hopes to surpass that record by painting on a canvas measured at 10,000m².
This incredible project shares a name with Kanye’s 2019 solo exhibition at the Terra Kulture Art Gallery, “Impossibility is a Myth.” The title is a testament to the 15-year-old’s successful art career despite living with autism. With this great feat, Kanye Tagbo-Okeke and his parents hope to simultaneously raise funds to build a world-class autism resource centre in Abuja, Nigeria and increase autism awareness.
His attempt which officially began on the 26th of November, 2024 is the product of a collaboration with The Zeebah Foundation. After years of growing his skill and portfolio, Kanye is taking this big step towards proving that children living with autism are also capable of great things.
Approximately two years after Kanye Tagbo-Okeke was born, his parents began to notice that he was not developing at the same pace and pattern they had witnessed with his older siblings. It took a while before he could walk, talk and express himself like kids his age. This, of course, was a cause for concern and his parents sought the opinion of health experts.
At the time, the awareness of autism and other neuro-developmental conditions was pretty low in Nigeria. The health practitioners they visited could not decipher that Kanye Tagbo-Okeke was on the spectrum. Some of them didn’t even know what it was. By simply considering his physical health, they insisted that he had no health peculiarities.
Fortunately, the veil was finally lifted when his parents met a doctor who had a child living with autism. As the founder of an institution dedicated to autistic children, the doctor diagnosed Kanye with autism in a heartbeat. Following the doctor’s advice to seek a second opinion, Kanye’s mother took him to Canada for a consultation with health experts. There, the Nigerian doctor’s diagnosis was confirmed with an additional discovery of ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).
After the confirmation of autism, Kanye and his mother returned to Nigeria. Armed with the new information, his parents dove right into the intervention phase. His mother quit her job so she could focus squarely on her son. The family took pains to create a safe space for Kanye and ensured that his autism was not a limitation on his potential and ability to lead a fulfilling life.
The biggest obstacle in their intervention strategy was the lack of information, as they had to resort to self-help. Unlike his birth country, Canada, Nigeria is sorely lacking in governmental support for children with neurodevelopmental conditions. Therefore, the family had to shoulder all the financial burden to provide Kanyeyachukwu with a semblance of what obtains in more developed countries.
To keep him engaged, his parents enrolled him in all kinds of extracurricular activities. That was how Kanye Tagbo-Okeke discovered his love for art and painting. With this skill and talent, he could now express himself in a different form.
Kanye has been hailed by many as gifted and his exceptional abstract paintings have earned him the nickname, “Young Picasso.” His keen eye and deft strokes have yielded so many beautiful pieces on canvas. And trailing behind him is a long string of accolades and achievements.
In 2018, he became the first Nigerian and the youngest recipient of the prestigious “Flame of Peace” award. His paintings have also graced numerous reputable galleries and art institutions around the globe. In addition to that, his painting was the cover art of the Art Vancouver Catalogue 2022 (Second Edition).
Most admirable of all has been his consistent and active involvement in autism-geared initiatives. Through the Kanyeyachukwu Autism Society, he gives back to his community and continues to propagate autism awareness.
Breaking this record will further propel his status as an outstanding contemporary artist. It would also be a collective statement from young people living with autism that, “Autism does not define us. We define it.” With bated breath, we await his triumphant victory.
Goodluck Kanye Tagbo-Okeke!
