FISHING OUT AFROFUTURE
FISHING OUT AFROFUTURE
Will they choose gills
rather than human lungs
to swim and live below the sea?
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FISHING OUT AFROFUTURE
Will they choose gills
rather than human lungs
to swim and live below the sea?
When nobody supports you,
when everybody says no to you,
when people turn down your requests,
and you cannot get any grant
when they band together to oppose you,
and say your ideas are not practical
and they frown when they see you:
don’t despair;
these are signs that you are moving in the right direction;
keep placing one foot ahead of the other
continue to push ahead
Omidan (Damsel)
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Two Friends and a Bird
Medium: Terracotta
Date: 2010
Like the comb (ÒÒYÀ)moves smoothly through the knotty hair
may you move without wahala through your days.
Ooya comes from yà, meaning to open up.
Two New African Proverbs:
1. The same people who place their knee on your neck will also be the first to ask “Why can’t you breathe?”
2. The same people who are causing your sadness will also be the first to ask “Why can’t you laugh?”
(Adapted from the Yoruba proverb, “Ẹ́ni tí ó bá sọ ni di olóríburúkú ni ó kọ́kọ́ má a ń fi bú ni:
Moyo Okediji
Title: Excavations of the First Dynasty
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021
MEANINGLESS WORD
“Food is not ready,” Iya Oyo informed me. “This is just a snack. I know you are hungry” In Yoruba she said “Fi eléyìí panu. Mo mọ̀ pé ebi ti ń pa ẹ́.”
She left me a bowl full of boiled groundnuts. I loved boiled groundnuts. It was still in the shell. “You can throw the shells here after cracking them.” In Yoruba , she said, “Pa èèpo ẹ̀pà ná à sínú abọ́ yìí.