Rites of Passage
Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Rites of Passage
Medium: silicon on paper
Date: 2020
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Artist: Moyo Okediji
Title: Rites of Passage
Medium: silicon on paper
Date: 2020
MEANINGLESS WORD
“Food is not ready,” Iya Oyo informed me. “This is just a snack. I know you are hungry” In Yoruba she said “Fi eléyìí panu. Mo mọ̀ pé ebi ti ń pa ẹ́.”
She left me a bowl full of boiled groundnuts. I loved boiled groundnuts. It was still in the shell. “You can throw the shells here after cracking them.” In Yoruba , she said, “Pa èèpo ẹ̀pà ná à sínú abọ́ yìí.
2020 has been an eventful year.
We will not itemize the list of the horrors of the year.
Can we, instead, highlight the blessings?
Rather than explore the sadness of the year, can we paint images that are sweet?
Can we find the joy hidden behind the sorrow?
Can we squeeze order out of the chaos?
I
Request:
Now that Ibadan
is under fire,
is all lost?
What does Ifa say?
Response:
Ifá responds with Ọ̀sé Ọ̀yẹ̀ku.
In Ọ̀sẹ́ Ọ̀yẹ̀kú, Ifá traces the same passage
Olodumare laughed when the Nigerian contingents
Stood up to present their case
before the throne of the Most High.
Olodumare said, “Active and passive
are equal and opposite
to effect the law of balance.
In the beginning
I created the most talented people
In a landscape mischievously named Nigeria.
Reunited with my painting.
Title: Fragments of the Shattered Gourd
Medium: terrachroma on canvas
Date: 2008
lutophobia II
Do you know the implication
of trading at -$25?
$25 BELOW sea level? It means
if you have a barrel of crude oil,
you are owing $25.
How is that possible?
Yes, it is possible.