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THE DILEMMA OF ABANDONING YOUR LANGUAGE
For the first time in my life, I traveled out of Nigeria in 1983 to visit London for a solo exhibition of my work at the Africa Center.
Rufus Orisayomi had arranged the exhibition for me.
Tunde Fagbenle and his wife, Ally Bedford, offered to host me at their home.
Ally was writing a Master’s thesis on my work, therefore, it was convenient for her to keep me close by to enable her to have access to me for clarifications when needed.
ReDoMi
Life is simple yet complicated in the ReDoMi civilization.
How do you say ReDoMi?
The vowels and consonants of the RedoMi people are so simple that all you have to do is open or close your lips to pronounce their words.
The consonants are especially straightforward. They contain no strong or forces sounds, not even a threatening hiss of the ZZZZ is allowed. That is too much of a snake strike for a people of the infinite dimension. Only the gentle “s” and “sh” are allowed into this linguistic tone.
ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Twenty)
Josephine came out of Rufus’s room and sat next to him.
“I didn’t know you were around,” I told her.
“I came out when I heard your voice,” she said.
“You must have been pretty scared when the guys who took Papa Ru’s things came,” I said to her.
“No,” Josephine responded. “I came in about thirty minutes ago. I missed everything. My friend at the school of nursing didn’t come to class today, so I went to find out what happened to her. Turns out she is sick.”
Potter
Potter:
What wants you from us,
One legged man?
Me: I’m here to study with you
the ancient art of terra-cotta.
Potter:
You, a university professor,
Coming to us to study,
We humble peasants and illiterates?
Selfie
Reminds me of a painting by Parmigianino, titled SELF PORTRAIT IN A CONVEX MIRROR, painted circa 1524 during the Renaissance. In the painting, the convex mirror from which Parmigianino is painting places the artist’s hand at the forefront of the composition, in a manner that exaggerates the hands, thus proclaiming the powerful quality of the craftsmanship within the hand of an artist.
