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Another of the paintings I just discovered in my garage.
Another of the paintings I just discovered in my garage.This painting, however, has the distinction of being one the oldest canvases I have in my possession—painted in 1992. It was the painting in which I had a breakthrough. It was in this painting that I unlearned everything my teachers taught me.I realize that in life, we do not see things like a camera.
The things we take for granted.
The things we take for granted.
I wanted to plant some flowers. Ordinarily I would simply jump up, grab the seeds, and plant the flowers.
But things are now different.
Without a serviceable leg, I had to think carefully of the strategy that would enable me to plant the flowers.
JUST BEFORE DAWN
Too many people don taya for dis obodo Naija, I swear.
Our suffer don do!
Kole Omotoso wrote JUST BEFORE DAWN in 1988.
Just before dawn, people say, it gets really dark.
It is now nearly forty years after Omotoso thought the dawn would break on Nigeria, but no, it gets darker every second in Naija .
Welcome to the new world.
Welcome to the new world.
It’s not going to look like your father’s world.
So, this lady came to the Àkòdì Òrìṣà, and asked the women artists working there, “What are you people doing here? What is this place?”
The curator said, “Madam, this is the Àkòdì Òrìṣà, and as you can see, we are working.”
MY PHONE RINGS
My phone rings and, recognizing the name of the caller, I pick up the call. It is the wife of a friend living in Nigeria. I say the usual, “Hello,” but there is no response. There is a faint conversation in the background. She is discussing with her friend.
In a corrupt system
In a corrupt system
remain stubbornly and fiercely honest.
The single honest man
in a system that is corrupt
is like a tall palm tree
standing among perennial brambles,
blades and grasses. That single
palm tree will remain
