Getting to know Kume, is getting to hear his strong, mostly contrary views and opinions about pretty much everything. While other people may tend to be careful about ruffling feathers and unsettling customs, not Kume. Confident to a point of arrogance, Kume says it as he sees it and is not afraid who hears it.
Childhood
Born in Sapele in Delta state, Akpubi grew up to be as playful and rambunctious as any young boy should. He reminisces about his childhood, “when I was younger, I wanted to be a farmer, living on my little farm, eating what I could grow…” Kume sheds more light on his childhood experiences, he shares, ‘my dad used to take us to these historic sights in Delta state..’ and then he goes on to share a story about a place in his hometown that may or may not have supernatural elements.
While others may be able to respond to questions with a simple answer, Kume tells stories.
Whether writing, or through his designs, illustrations or paintings, Kume is always telling a story. Even in a conversation with him, you are likely to be drawn into one story or argument or the other.
Art
Asking about his art and how he started on the graphics design path, he says, ‘I like creating stuff.. I wrote my first story when I was six and made my first painting when I was three years old’. Kume is a painter, a writer, a graphics designer amongst other things.
His journey to graphics design started while he was studying in the Obafemi Awolowo University, for a degree in Computer Engineering. This would lead him to join the AIESEC organization, which would turn out to be a very defining decision for him. The designer would go on to become the president of AIESEC in his final year.
Kume shares that he has not had any formal training with his illustrations and graphics designs, ‘except for a few physical classes I took, most of what I know are from Youtube and trying things out on my own.’
How does Akpubi come about inspiration for his work? He explains, ‘growing up, after watching cartoons, I used to try to draw the characters from memory.. And now if I’m not copying from memory, I’m drawing a reference..’
Travels
Kume in the space of seven years, has been to about 20 countries, mostly along Europe and Africa. Sharing his first trip experience, to Cameroon, the graphic designer says, “I was in Calabar for an AIESEC conference when I decided to get to know the city a little bit better. I was walking around for a while, and then I took a boat trip…”
Very close to Calabar is the border that Nigeria shares with Cameroon. Cameroon is accessible by boat from Calabar and this was how Kume and had his first out of Nigeria experience at 22. No one knew that he had taken this trip, not his colleagues that he had travelled to Calabar with from Osun state, not his family, no one.
The young traveller spent only a couple of hours in Cameroon, he narrates his experience in the country, “ We were all black, so nobody could tell I wasn’t from there… Different language I didn’t understand”. How did Kume get back to Nigeria? “The first time I felt afraid on the trip was when I was about to get back to Nigeria, the naval officer at the border asked me for my ID card, and I showed him my student ID Card…”
The Delta state native has since been to Tanzania, Russia, Italy, Rwanda, Croatia, Austria, Togo, Benin, Venice and several countries. Kume’s tone takes on a wistful note when he speaks of Venice, might be something to do with the fact that the city remains untouched by the passage of time, as if preserved by the sheer force of will.
Inspirations
While Kume is inspired by classical artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Dante and Verdi, he also enjoys the works of Walt Disney and Fred Quimby. He says, “Disney revolutionized an industry with new ideas…He changed the way animations were made.”
And about Fred Quimby he says, “Fred Quimby made 100’s of Tom and Jerry episodes with no dialogue..”
Since joining ID Africa in November 2019 as Graphics Designer, Akpubi has created more than 300 designs, both for ID Africa owned platforms, and for brands like MTN, AMVCA, Multichoice, Capricorn Digital Limited.
Future
Shedding light about where he wants to see his designs in the next couple of years, he says ‘I want to tell more African stories… Growing up, there weren’t enough African characters in the stories and cartoons we watched and read…’
Whether it be through stories or illustrations, the Delta state native wants to see a better representation of African stories in the mainstream.
An avid reader and learner, Akpubi enjoys watching documentaries and cartoons, as much as he enjoys reading. He hopes to travel to Indonesia to see the Angkor Wat temple this year.
Why Angkor Wat? He says, ‘I have always enjoyed watching historic documentaries about ancient civilization, whether about the French Revolution, Jaja of Opobo or Angkor Wat..’
Since childhood, Kume has been exposed to subjects of history and biology, he says, ‘growing up, my mom was interested in history, biology… and these were the books that were always at home…’
This might explain his fascination with history and story telling.
The artist has not lost his childhood sense of curiosity and wonder at the world, and when he is not creating an illustration, or watching a cartoon, he is probably writing poems to long lost lovers, or dreaming up a new adventure.