Egungun Festival Day in Austin TX, this afternoon.
I’m dressed for it.
We are celebrating the rituals of our ancestors.
Àwa ó ṣorò ilé wa ò
Àwa ó ṣorò ilé wa ò
Ìmọ̀le ò pé káwa má sorò
Àwa ó ṣorò ilé wa ò.
Join us today at:
Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
1106 E 11th St, Austin, Texas 78702
Fat turds float on top
of the water well
in 9ja social waters
dressed to look like fishes:
they are not
the ones you seek,
Far below the layers of turds
you will find spring waters
YORÙBÁ DÌDE
Ọmọ Yorùbá ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Ẹyin Yorùbá ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Gbogbo Yorùbá ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Ọjọ́ ti pé, ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Ẹ má sùn mọ́, ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Iṣẹ́ ti yá, ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Èrù ò bà wá, ẹ dìde
Dìde, dìde, dìde.
Àyà ò fò wá, ẹ dìde
Artist: Moyo Okediji, Painting in the Round Series: Visitors from Another Space/Time.
acrylic on canvas
Dimension: unequal.
Date: 2007
Have you heard the news?
Nigeria is rated more corrupt now than ever before.
Nigeria ranks in the bottom 40 nations in the world.
In West Africa, only Guinea is rated worse than Nigeria.
And Botswana is rated best in Africa.
Why the Art Museums Are Closed
A dialogue with Africa
about the ancestral images
that the West looted
from the continent is inevitable.
Without this dialogue,
all the museums in the world,
all the art galleries,
all the exhibition spaces,
are uninhabitable spaces
Adetola Wewe is with me in Austin Texas.
He is here as an artist in residence in the art center/gallery that I began recently.
He is chilling here with some àsun that he brought with him from Nigeria, and one of the local beers in Austin.