‘Passion doesn’t retire. Artists don’t either’

By Bruce Onobrakpeya

I have lived long enough to know that the true artist does not operate on the calendar of conventional professions. The concept of retirement, while necessary in some spheres of life, has little meaning in the realm of creativity. Artists must never retire, not because they are unwilling, but because the act of creating is not a task we step away from. It is a calling that grows deeper with time, age, and experience.

From the early days of my practice, I understood that art was not something I could simply turn on and off. It lives within me. It informs the way I see the world and how I respond to it. Like the breath in my lungs or the blood in my veins, it is inseparable from my identity. The idea of putting that identity aside in the name of retirement is, to me, inconceivable.

In African tradition, the elder is a reservoir of wisdom. He does not retreat from life but becomes more deeply embedded in its rhythms. In the same way, an artist in his later years carries with him not only technical mastery but also the wealth of memory, reflection, and spiritual insight that can only come from a life well lived. The elder artist becomes a bridge between generations, bearing stories, symbols, and ancestral echoes that the younger ones must listen to in order to move forward.

Retirement, as we often conceive of it, implies an end to usefulness. It suggests that one’s best contributions are behind them. But I have found that my most profound works, the pieces that have challenged me the most and those that have resonated most deeply with others, came not in the haste of youth but in the stillness of maturity. Age sharpens the internal eye. It teaches patience, discipline, and the ability to hear the voice of spirit through silence.

To young artists I say, never fear growing old in your art. Time is not your enemy but your mentor. Let your early works be sketches of a lifelong mural. And to older artists, do not yield to the pressure of retreat. Your work is more necessary now than ever. The world needs the perspective of those who have endured, who have seen seasons change, and who carry the ability to interpret not just the present but the long thread of continuity that connects past to future.

The brush, the chisel, the loom, the camera—these are not tools of youth alone. They belong equally to hands weathered by experience. Every stroke, every line, every form drawn in the later years carries with it a depth that no academy can teach.

In my own journey, I have found that art continues to renew me. It gives me reason to wake up in the morning and meaning to reflect upon at night. The studio is my sanctuary. The process is my prayer. And every new work is an affirmation that I am still learning, still discovering, still becoming.

Let us then throw away the myth of retirement for the artist. Let us instead embrace the truth that creativity, like love or truth, does not fade. It matures. It finds new language, new depth, new urgency. And in this evolving journey, the artist remains forever active, forever necessary, forever inspired.

Pa Bruce Onobrakpeya at work

* Prof. Onobrakpeya is founder of Ovuomaroro Studio, Papa-Ajao, Mushin, Lagos (2 July 2025)