EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT

EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT

We looked at this work in class today.

It is part of much larger door panel carved by a Yoruba sculptor called Dada Arowoogun.

He is one of those we refer to as a “traditional” African artist.

At that time, the Yoruba language was not yet inscribed as letters written on paper.

Artists such as Arowoogun were writing our history with images as art.

As an old teacher, I teach by asking questions and letting people figure out the information by themselves.

So I asked my students: “If you look at this panel as writing, what can you read from it?”

I want to ask you the same question: read the sculpture as if you are reading a writing from the 19th century.

Can you please tell me what you can read?

What can we learn from this letter from an eye witness account?

What, if any, is the moral of the story told here?