Akinwumi Isola.
Akinwumi Isola (1939-2018).
One of the greatest.
The only Honest Man
Who will win between Buhari and Atiku?
The presidential election in Nigeria is postponed for another week.
Who will win between Buhari and Atiku?
(In all seriousness, all other names are not on the ballot).
The question is not whether Buhari will be reelected into office as the president of Nigeria.
Ifa says Buhari will be reelected, whether you like it or not.
19 years
I was 19 years old in 1975 and an undergraduate studying painting at the University of Ife when my friend, Augusta Akusu-Ossai, took this picture of me.
The attire I’m wearing in the picture is typical of what I always wore in those days: a long adire (batik) top that I designed and sewed myself, and the baggy pants of that era.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends. I love you all minus none.
Me, here, painting away on a beautiful Valentine’s Day, seven years ago.
Would Olabisi Silva still be alive if she did not choose to live and die for Nigeria?
Would Olabisi Silva still be alive if she did not choose to live and die for Nigeria?
I asked the same question when my friend, Moyo Ogundipe, died of a cardiac arrest two years ago.
Nigeria lacks basic healthcare facilities for talented, boundary-pushing professionals.
The roads are deathtraps.
Have you heard di news?
Have you heard di news?
Dem say PDP don marry APC.
Na Sunny Ade and Eddy Okonta play for their wedding.
Wot a wonderful gofment!
Life is sweet like bread and butter.
I am speechless.
Anthonia Nneji has done me again.
I am speechless.
I must write her a poem.
Wèrèpè
Wèrèpè má so mọ́.
Devil bean weed, stop producing seeds,
Èyí tó o so lésǐn,
The seeds you produced last season
Baba ẹnìkan ò ka.
THE MOST WONDERFUL WOMEN IN THE WORLD
The most wonderful women in the world–Nigerian women–at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Smart beyond compare, the beauty of Nigerian women slowly grows on you, though for me, it is always love at first sight.
FEB. 10
If you went to the University of Ife in the late 70s or early 80s, can you identify anybody in this picture?
A museum is doing a research on the work of Munio Makuchi, and wants info from anyone in this picture, or anyone able to identify someone in the picture.
THIS MORNING
This morning, in my African Diaspora Visions class (an art history class that I teach at the University of Texas, Austin), a student from Trinidad and Tobago said, “In a hundred years, everybody in the world will be a Nigerian, or have family ties to Nigerians.”
HOMESICK
In 2001, homesick, I returned to Nigeria after staying away for nine years in the US.
My destination was Ife, and I lodged in a hotel in Lagos for the first week. I used the hotel rental car, with a hired driver, to run errands. One day, the rental car driver who drove me around Lagos, said “Prof, why not just buy a car instead of spending all your money on car hires? Don’t you plan to stay in Nigeria for a couple of months? It’s best for you to get a fairly used car.”