VISUAL PROVERBS: ABO

VISUAL PROVERBS: ABO

Let’s play with words.

Let’s play with images.

Let’s construct figures of speech.

Let’s do òwé, and ride it down the lane of memory.

Let’s break things all down; then pack them all back together.

Let’s see what will fall out, what will fall in.

Let us now begin to speak in proverbs.

Let us start to see in proverbs.

Let us start painting proverbs.

Let us start dancing in proverbs.

To paint in proverbs,

to speak with proverbial pictures,

to visual proverbs,

we must start with the alphabets of images.

We will begin by tying up

space with time, upside down.

A ò rí ọjọ́ mú so lókùn:

time defies tying up with ropes.

My father, Oladejo Okediji,

would have responded to the proverb,

“A ò rí ọjọ́ mú so lókùn” with,

“Okùn ọ̀hún ò yí ni kò ṣe é fi mú ọjọ́ so:”

“Time defies tying up

only because the rope is not supple enough.”

We will weave

an image supple enough

with which to tie

time and space together.

Let us call it Òbò

the Interior Concealed

It comes from “bò”

that which is covered

it is the beginning of life

it is also the end.

The picture here shows:

Moyo Okediji, ABO, 2020

Acrylic on canvas

30” x 35”