WE ARE ERUPTING
We are erupting, we are the ones born to fly to open wide the feathers of our wingsand like a kite without a careto soar far above the fence
AN ELEPHANT OR ANT
Look to your weakness, because therein lies your strength.
Where you are strongest is where you are weakness.
Focus not on your achievements
Closely embrace your failures.
ỌLỌ́PǍ
The Fear of Cops Is the Beginning of Wisdom when I was a child of about four years old, my father attended a one-month residential workshop in Ibadan.
DAYS OF YORE
Those days when I was much younger, I explored photography.Here are some shots of Jummai, then a great model from Northern Nigeria, now a rising woman activist and politician.
DAILY DEVOTION: ÌWÚRE
Gbogbo igi kọ́ lejò ń gùn (Not all trees can be scaled by the snake)
Gbogbo omi kọ́ lẹdun ń mu (The colobus monkey doesn’t drink all types of water)
Àyàfi wèrè, àyàfi dìgbòlugi (Only the insane, only the raving lunatic)
Iya Oyo
Iya Oyo took a slow and long drag on her pipe, and released the smoke in short puffing sounds.The moon was orange bright, a perfect golden disk floating on the clouds.Some insects, hiding behind the darkness, sang in harmony with the frogs serenading the stars from the pond next to the Orisa house.It was the perfect time for me to ask my question: nobody was saying anything.
African Logic of Love
African Logic of Love
This message is for young people.
And those young at heart.
Do Africans have original ideas about love and romance?
ÈDÈ: The Tie That Binds Us
Èdè means language in Yoruba.
In truth, however, èdè means bond.
Èdè is formed from dè, a verb that means, “to bind.”
GOODBYE
“Ó dàbọ̀,” which is what stands for the idea of goodbye, actually is the very opposite of goodbye.Why? Because “Ó dàbọ̀” does not say that you are leaving.Rather, as you depart, you are speaking of “àbọ̀,” meaning, “the return.”As you depart, you begin to celebrate your return.
CAT
I laff so-tay las’ night my head fall commot my neck.
And I’m not making up this story.
My Chinese friend called me and said her friend, Tunde, who lives in Canada, wanted me to tell her the meaning of “Cat” in Yoruba.
“Why didn’t Tunde just tell you what ‘cat’ means in Yoruba himself?” I asked surprised.
TABLE
I once visited a rich single lady living in a gorgeous house with the most amazing furniture.
After we ate, I felt relaxed and we started a great conversation, with expensive wine served in elegantly shaped goblets.
That was when wahala started. The expression in her eyes changed. She became slightly alarmed.
“Would you mind not placing your leg on the table?” she requested softly.
IRONY OF A NEGRO CURATOR
When I became the Curator of African art in 1999 for a major art museum in the United States, the irony was not lost on me.How do you steal, loot, confiscate or pillage something, display the stolen or contraband goods publicly in your house, and hire the owner of the objects as the guard for the contraband or stolen goods?