Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists
Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists painting the outside fence at Ile Ife, Nigeria.
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Àkòdì Òrìṣà artists painting the outside fence at Ile Ife, Nigeria.
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Ìbàdí Àrán (Duchess).
Medium: silicon on paper
Date: 2020
This is one of the paintings I just discovered in my garage.
The painting celebrates Robert Hayden’s poem, “Middle Passage.”
It is a really long poem.
The painting focuses on this excerpt:
“That Crew and Captain lusted with the comeliest
of the savage girls kept naked in the cabins;
that there was one they called The Guinea Rose
and they cast lots and fought to lie with her: ”
The character across the floor of the ship being whipped to consent is the lady called Guinea Rose in the poem.
How does one translate ÌKÚNLẸ̀ ABIYAMỌ into English, yet retain the picture that that term conveys in the original Yoruba context?
The word “childbirth,” which is the direct translation of ÌKÚNLẸ̀ ABIYAMỌ does not give the picture of the kneeling woman, giving birth to a child.
Visitors From the Distant Past
They landed in three large pods.
“They look exactly as we envisaged,” one of them said, probing me.
“Bring him inside the pod.” Said another.
They took me inside the pod.
I looked around.
I’m a refugee
An exile, a stranger
In a gold residence.
Home died decades away.
Those who opened their door
To welcome my wandering legs
Point to me their tables
decked with wine and sweetbread.
Title: ANIMAL FARM IN BELGIAN KONGO
acrylic on canvas, 2020
I’ve been working on this painting for one month.
The journey has been long
on a bumpy road