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WITH JELILI ATIKUS SCULPTURE
With Jelili Atiku’s sculpture of Mandela and wearing Luis Emilio Marin’s Esu figure in my office today, University of Texas at Austin.
My Nigerian friends are going to be so scared!!!!
Two New African Proverbs
Two New African Proverbs:
1. The same people who place their knee on your neck will also be the first to ask “Why can’t you breathe?”
2. The same people who are causing your sadness will also be the first to ask “Why can’t you laugh?”
(Adapted from the Yoruba proverb, “Ẹ́ni tí ó bá sọ ni di olóríburúkú ni ó kọ́kọ́ má a ń fi bú ni:
The Butterfly Thinks Himself A Bird
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.”
Captive No More V
Captive No More V
14
The baale of Apaara,
My great grandfather
returned on horseback
only to discover that
His favorite child was gone
swept along the rabid rapids
of the slavers’ path
into the abyss of time.
Reunited
Reunited with my painting.
Title: Fragments of the Shattered Gourd
Medium: terrachroma on canvas
Date: 2008
The creative process
The creative process can be quite fun, walahi.
You give it what it takes.
Here I am making a new picture.