Once Upon a Time,the Tortoise
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Once Upon a Time, the Tortoise
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Date: 2018
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Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Once Upon a Time, the Tortoise
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Date: 2018
Yesterday at age 79,
Tony Allen, joined the ancestors.
Allen, born in Ghana,
was Fela’s lead drummer and bandleader
for many many years.
But the drummer is typically positioned
at the background of the stage,
and you hardly ever see them.
The singer is always in front.
Àkòdì Òrìṣà at sunset, Ile Ife, Nigeria.
This is the location of the Àkòdì Òrìṣà, the home of the ancestral orisa in Yoruba country.
The curator of the Àkòdì Òrìṣà sent me this picture to inform me of the treat that awaits me when I return to Ile Ife. I’ll be there soon. Soon.
Adetola Wewe, is with me in Austin, Texas, posing with the first painting he completed and signed as an artist in residence at the University of African Art Residency, Texas, Austin.
Could Black life matter,
without Black thoughts
and values mattering?
The indigenous African traditions
cannot breathe:
invasive viral forces
have placed their morbid knees
on the throats of indigenous African philosophy,
science, pedagogy, technology,
Jetlagged.
From Heathrow Airpot to Austin Airport.
Rivers of Life
Folks are flowing waters:
We fail to connect upstream,
Downstream we shall meet
Those you shun today,