MY WORKS
Two of my work hanging in the exhibitions‘Wole Soyinka: Antiquities Across Times and Place’ in Haiti, curated by Awam Amkpa of New York University.
Interested in some of my published works?
Follow Me
Two of my work hanging in the exhibitions‘Wole Soyinka: Antiquities Across Times and Place’ in Haiti, curated by Awam Amkpa of New York University.
Moyo Okediji
Title: The Butterfly Thinks Himself A Bird
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Date 2021
Size: 24″ x 30″
The title is an important line in playwright Ola Rotimi’s masterpiece, THE GODS ARE NOT TO BLAME.
Rotimi took the line from a Yoruba proverb, “Labalábá fira rẹ̀ wẹ́ye, kò le ṣìṣe ẹyẹ.” ̛It means, “The butterfly compares itself to the bird, but is unable to perform like a bird.”
PART OF THE BEAT
Only you can kill yourself,
hiding your game in the shelf
Too many die
living a life of lie.
Too many fellows live
but can’t survive
You must go anyway
but don’t go away
Place your feet on the ground
while you’re still around
Nobody, except I tell them, can figure out that in this painting lies a figure.
If you can decipher the figure, tell me what you see.
If you take a guess, I will inbox you with the answer.
Soon after you make a guess, check your inbox for the answer.
Origin of the Yoruba: according to oral tradition
Following strictly the words of Yoruba ancestors, as revealed by Ifa, life began for Yoruba people at Ile Ife.
There is no mention of mecca, or the middle east or any other origin.
Ifa is very clear on this topic.
I went into my garage and found a harvest of forgotten canvases waiting for me.
This corona break has given me some time to look at what I already have produced.
This is the last painting I did in 1992, just before leaving Nigeria.
You will notice that it is made from gouache.
The Akodi Orisa that I constructed in 2011, Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria. It is the model for the one in Ile Ife.