Ayomide is a Girl Rising Advisory Board member and was a 2021 Future Rising Fellow, Nigeria. In college she studied microbiology and throughout her life she witnessed desertification in her country. She uses her art to raise awareness of the issues around climate justice.
Interview with Ayo and Tyler Jacobus, high school student in the US and Girl Rising Student Ambassador:
How did you first get interested in this topic of early marriage as a result of climate change?
I would say that my interest comes from seeing and observing things in my society, and also being aware of the privileges that I have - the privilege to be educated, yes, but other privileges to in society and seeing the differences among different groups in societies. And I also think about the different ways my life could have turn out if I didn’t have an education. That was the start of my interest in creating this story.
Why did you want to tell this story through a graphic novel?
I would say that I am still a child in my mind. I still follow comic books and cartoons. As a child I always love cartoons and Nickelodeon and I am trying to preserve some of that childlikeness. I also understand that the best way to communicate with young people who are my primary targe audience for this book is to show it to them the way that they love. That is how they learn and I feel like it’s best to communicate something colorful, with pictures. If I wrote a very long boring essay, chances are that children wouldn’t read it. With this book, readers can follow along with the character and that’s how the message gets across. So it was my target audience that determined my medium of communication.
Did you like art and media when you were young?
Yes, I have always been interested in the arts. I’ve always tried to communicate through drawing and painting. In high school I mainly studied biology and science but somehow I still made time for painting and drawing. I did not eventually study arts in college - I majored in microbiology in the university, in part because my parents didn’t think the arts were something that I could make a living from. But I have always loved the arts and I still make time to create.
But I feel like it all comes together in the sense that my study of microbiology because when you study biology and public health, you are introduced to some issues that might be well known to an artist but being in science, it gives you important insights. I love having the understanding of science to spur my imagination as an artist.
What impact do you hope your novel will have?
I hope my novel and my blogs and everything I do as an artist helps young people to understand their rights. I hope my novel can be like a 9-1-1 call for young people. I hope that young people who might need support, can read my novel and know how to take action from it.
What do you think students in the US should know about the impact of climate change in Nigeria?
Nigeria and most of Africa does not contribute so much to the climate crisis - I think less than 1%. Our carbon footprints are very low. We use a lot of mass transit. We use a lot of local sustainable means for food. We are very sustainable. In every African home there are reusable baskets that we use so that we do not damage the environment. Compared to people in the US taking airplanes everywhere - we cannot afford that! But now in Africa, we have regular floods, we have hurricanes, and excessive rainfall. And in coastal communities that flooding means that homes are lost. So we do not contribute so much, but we are suffering from it. And for some African societies and communities to recover if there is damage from climate change it’s very costly and sometimes not even possible. So I think all people need to understand that the choices they are making - for example the choices someone is making in New York, are affecting people in Uganda. All of us in Africa are being affected by countries that refuse to cut down on the things that cause climate change.
What’s next for you?
I have set up a new website and I hope to have a new story there every week or every month of a person who is making a difference in society. I will use comics and drawings, so that young people can go through it easily, really understand it. And maybe even have stories from beyond Nigeria so that all kinds of people can read these stories and really celebrate our community.
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