a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

Selfie

ByMoyo Okediji

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.

The play with a mirror in this selfie is the double reversal: the mirror reverses my image, while the camera lens reverses the already reversed image of the mirror, thus neutralizing the initial mirror reversal.

The truth–or reality–is hard to know and embrace because life is a layered palimpsest of reversals of experiences. Today reverses yesterday, and tomorrow reverses today, yet tomorrow never comes.

So, when I read that the celebrated Nigeria curator, Okui Enwenzor, remaked that, “The future belongs to Africa,” I know the future lies in tomorrow, which is always ahead and never here.

The future is never here because it is a reversal of the past, which will never return. Life is a convex mirror embedded in a concave lens.

Africa, therefore, is Now, Yesterday and Forever More.

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THE RETURN (Part one)

THE RETURN (Part one)

ByMoyo Okediji

His ordeal began with a brief phone call.

“Hallo? Hallo? Honorable! Are you there? Your mother. She was stolen from her house.”

A sharp pain pinched him in the middle of the chest and traveled slowly down to the bottom of his stomach.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” he thought.

For the past week he had been nursing an ominous feeling that something beyond his control was going to happen. Somehow his mind kept going to his mother.

He was thinking of driving to the village this weekend to visit her.

“Hallo? Hallo? Are you still there?” the voice asked again.

a picture showing moyo okediji working on his system under a tree poised for the camera

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Thirty-One)

ByMoyo Okediji

Gina sat on the floor by the doorstep waiting for us when we returned late to Benin City from Iludun. I didn’t she was sitting there until the headlamps lit up the spot where she was and Felicia said, “Hey, is that not Gina?”

It had been a long day spent mostly on the road and it took me a minute to adjust my mind to what was happening. I was exhausted from hours of driving on rough roads to and fro Iludun, Mama Rufus’s place.

a picture showing moyo okediji standingnext to his artwork

Another painting that I just extracted from my garage is this dark work.

ByMoyo Okediji

Another painting that I just extracted from my garage is this dark work.

There is an interesting story behind it.

In the year 2000 or 2001, the British Museum invited me to give a lecture as part of the ceremonies held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and also to mark the completion of the Great Court built as an extension of the main museum building. They wanted me to address the body as my topic.

Artist: Dotun Popoola Title: Portrait of Moyo Okediji Medium: pen and ink on paper date; 2020

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1981 (Part Thirteen)

ByMoyo Okediji

As Rufus exited the buka, it was clear that Obaseki was disappointed.

With Madam Ngu and Prof. Wangboje present at the dining table, the circumstances for a total mediation of the crisis were perfect.

They would have just instructed Rufus to cut it, and that would have been the end. Obaseki could not have wished for a better opportunity.

But Rufus left to start his audition with his theater students without the discussion of the crisis coming up. One thing was certain: Rufus was mad and did not hide it.

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

INNER VISION: OJÚ INÚ

ByMoyo Okediji

About 50 villages, mostly located in Ogun States, have been abandoned by Yoruba farmers and their families, but now occupied by Fulani invaders who drove out these villagers.

This morning I saw videos of the officers of the Nigerian Customs and Excises raiding the shops of poor market women, removing items that these women bought for sale to their customers.

This is a two-prong attack: the villagers driven out of their villages are unable to farm and provide food supplies for the people in towns and cities.

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