Dem Belleful
Title: Dem Belleful
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021
48×36″
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Title: Dem Belleful
Medium: acrylic on canvas
date: 2021
48×36″
How many people can be really, really true friends?
Or is friendship restricted to just two people?
Is friendship possible among three or more?
First, Yoruba people are cynical about friendship: the culture outright dismisses the notion of friendship as naïve.
“Ọ̀rẹ́ òtítọ́ ò sí,” is an adage that means “There are no true friends.”
“Ojú larí, ọ̀rẹ́ ò dénú,” means “We see the eye service, but the friendship is not deep.”
When I was a kid between the ages of three to ten, my friends and I were fond of watching Lọ́baníkà, an egúngún masquerade that performed regularly once a year in my neighborhood at Iremo in Ile Ife. Lobanika’s annual act was the highlight of the entire community, and we always waited with joy for the week when Lobanika performed to the delight of all and sundry
Fat turds float on top
of the water well
in 9ja social waters
dressed to look like fishes:
they are not
the ones you seek,
Far below the layers of turds
you will find spring waters
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.
This is too easy, right?
Do you see this person?
It’s easy to see who is hiding in the picture and what the fellow is doing, isn’t it?
I wonder.
Hope is my only light
Out of all gloomy nights
Whatever hope fights
Hope prevails