Yoruba Numbers: Ení, Èjì Ẹ̀ta
Yoruba culture, using the Ifa dimension, is quite visual.
I therefore designed a Yoruba writing system that is essentially visual.
The picture shows the Yoruba numerical system that I designed.
It is from Zero (0) to Nine (9), and combinations of these would give you all the figures in the world.
See if you could write any number with it.
Hope is my only light
Out of all gloomy nights
Whatever hope fights
Hope prevails
Title: Yemoja Protecting her Children (Earth Day).
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Size: 76″ x 64″
Date: April 2021
Yemoja, Oya, and Osun are female divinities whose duties include protecting the earth, cleansing it and engineering regeneration.
Wèrèpè má so mọ́.
Devil bean weed, stop producing seeds,
Èyí tó o so lésǐn,
The seeds you produced last season
Baba ẹnìkan ò ka.
NAME YOUR TEACHER
Who taught you
that you must breathe?
Who taught you
that you must eat?
that you must crawl?
that you must walk?
that you must talk?
that you must listen?
Who taught you
that your culture is inferior?
At my studio in Austin, Adetola Wewe is seen working with Keji Badmus, the first recipient of the Apprenticeship Program of the University of African Art at Austin.
The apprenticeship system is the indigenous art education school practice in the indigenous African creative cultures.
THE ORANGE SELLER
This is my fruit
eat it while ripe.
The harvest season yields
oranges and apples that you
must first taste
with your naked eye
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: The Orange Seller