Artist from Kogi State makes breath takingly beautiful art works from used tyres

Meet Ajayi Toyeeb, the young chap who proves the theory that says nothing good can come out of Kogi State wrong. Kogi State is always in the news for wrong reasons so most people associate the state with only bedlam and calamities.

   Toyeeb a graduate of the Auchi Polythecnic in Nigeria is one very talented artist who has the nack for making breath takingly beautiful things out used car tires and other bits of used go

       Some of Toyeebs clients are Nigeria's super rich who most of the time  have no idea that the beautiful piece of artwork sitting pretty in their foyers used be infact junk.

 Toyeeb says that the process of making this master pieces is quite simple as the materials cost almost next to nothing all you need is a bit of creativity and the ability to think outside the box.

I Dream of You In Colours That Don't Exist

         It's being 8? 9? years now and there is not a day that goes by that your name doesn't echo in the recesses of my mind. I remember the first day I saw you, you kept staring at me. It was one of those random "why is he staring at me moments"  where you surreptitiously check out the party and when you are done, you look the other way.

        I was 16, sweet sixteen if I clearly remember. I just finished secondary school, my WAEC and NECO results were out and while I did well in all other subjects, I did very poorly in Mathematics.

        My parents were freaking out, I had been sent to an expensive school and an F9 in maths was not what they expected. Those days were the darkest days of my sixteen year old life. I needed a deviation, I needed something that would be a cure for my depression.

        You became that and more, I started to look forward to seeing the "yellow boy" who always stared at me in church. And one day why surreptitiously sharing glances with you it occurred to me that this yellow boy was quite handsome. Your looks would eventually become my standard for judging handsomeness.

         No one knew why I was always so excited about going to church for Wednesday service. While my brothers thought any church activity was a drag, I would get up and prepare for church one hour early because I knew I would see you.

         And there you would be seated in the most unassuming way possible, I always wished that the ushers would make us sit side by side but that never happened I guess even then fate was trying to pass a message across.

         You fancied this particular yellow Chelsea polo shirt and a pair of black pants with the silver chains attached to them.

          One day I came to church expecting to see you but you weren't there. My heart broke a little that day I had gotten quite adept at sending you telepathic messages with my eyes since we never spoke word to each other, back then I didn't even know your name to me you were the "yellow boy".

           I made new friends, friends like Joshua who would later become my boyfriend after three long years of asking me to be that.

          Seeing you during the holidays became the highlights of my year. We never spoke to each other but then we didn't need words.

          Joshua didn't know you, he didn't need to know you, you were the elephant in our relationship if he saw how my face would light up when I spoke about you, he never said anything.

          I remember the first time we spoke and how I rambled on and on and you even called me a parrot. It was because I couldn't believe it. After days, months  and years of imagining what it would feel like talking with you, it was finally happening. I always thought you were bigger than life and so that day I rambled on and on and on.

          I remember how you introduced me to your friend and he said you were always talking about me. That made me giddy, happy.

         I remember telling you I was dating Joshua and I even showed you his pictures and I remember how your face fell.

        You travelled to village for Christmas with your family as you have always done and when you came back you had yourself a new girlfriend.

        I remember valentines day in 2011 I told Joshua to leave, he left that morning because you said you were coming. And what did you do, you made out with her in front of me I guess it was your way of proving a point, that evening was the longest evening in all of my nineteen years I don't know how I got through it without any hair pulling or bottle breaking. That night I decided that I hated you, I decided that I loathed you.

        So I decided to make my self feel better by choosing to ignore or not recognize your presence even if was the most difficult thing I would ever have to do.

        Even if it looked on the outside like I had excommunicated myself from you. My heart had a mind of its own. Every other time I did think of you, I became obsessed with you,  you became a toxic habit,  bad for me in every way but I just couldn't help it.

         Sometimes I did pray and ask God to make me stop thinking about you but it seemed like the more I prayed the higher the intensity of my emotions got until it became something I had to accept and peacefully live with. Time and distance helped to make it better.

         Sometimes I wonder if I would feel the way I feel/ felt about you with anyone else. I remember October 2nd 2009, the Saturday I almost died, when I had that accident, the last thing I remember was thinking about what dress I was going to wear to church the following day because I was going to see you.

         While that vehicle somersaulted 4 times all I could think of was that I wasn't going to see you in church tomorrow.

          That was how much you meant to me, what I felt for you was strong, heady and intense. You were like an opium that never wore off.

          So many times I've asked fate why it had to be you.

          It's 2016 and I still dream of you in colours that don't exist, I still wonder how you are doing, I wonder how you are holding up now that your mum is sick, I know how much she means to you, sometimes I wish I was there to tell you that it will be okay, I wish I could reassure you that God will not leave you or forsake you. I wish, I wish, I wish.

         I wonder if you think of me in those unguarded moments when your thoughts are free to wonder. I wonder if you still say my name and chuckle, I wonder if you still think my shenanigans are endearing.

         But you know what I wonder the most, I wonder if when i'm older with someone else and with little me's who I would feel for more intensely than I ever did for you. I wonder if even then I would still dream of you in colours that don't exist.

        The fact that I think I might, scares me.

      

10 Reasons why I think I just might be in love with you

1,  For you it was love at first sight(you tell me this everyday) for me i'm not even sure i'm in love with your toes yet.

2,  You are the Ying to my Yang, you are so good at mathematics while its not my favourite anything, so someday(if there is a someday) I can conveniently tell the kids to go give daddy their maths homework and then I would gladly help with the English.

3,   I'm phlegmatic to your choleric, you are Mr self confident and I am comfortable being the wall flower, i'm very sceptical about every decision I make, everyone and their mother  who know me know that I can worry and over analyse for Africa. You on the other hand are very optimistic, you see life in shades of orange and magenta. You should be the face of lucozade, you have so much energy its infectious.

4, You more than anyone know that you are not perfect, you are so accepting of your flaws and short comings. You like to include God in everything, I ask you how is the thesis for your doctorate going and you say God is helping me, God this, God that. You are so obsessed with your creator, i'm not complaining, if I was then this list wouldn't have a number four.

5,  You and your suits and ties!!!! It was I who saw you first on the day we met(I bet you didn't know that) and the first thing I thought to my self was "look at this one strutting about  in that grey suit like he owns the building" . You like to say that you are a gentleman, and that you are learned and so you should look like a gentleman. When you say this I smile smugly but in my mind I say bros carry go! nothing do you!

6, I used to think my laugh was weird, now I know better . I think you sound like a cross between a howling wolf and  a laughing hyena when you laugh what I do not understand is why for the life of me I want to hear that laugh everyday.

7, With you there are no rose coloured glasses, I never have to care about my short comings or meeting up to expectations, with you I'm learning to embrace my flaws and imperfections.

8, I like to argue with you for no reason, the general notion of me is that I am calm, so its weird that with you i'm always pushing for a fight . I think its because I just like being the woman who gives you wahala.

9, Most days I don't like the shape of your nose, but when i'm PMSing I think its a work of art.

10,  Because...because I think I just might be in love with you.