Oladejo Okediji, 1929-2019.
Death knocked on the door, ko ko ko ko; ko ko ko ko.
My father got up from the bed and went to the door and, very boldly, opened the door, saying, “Here I am. I’m ready for your very worst.”
Death: It’s not my fault. It’s just a job. This is what I’m paid to do.
Baba: I understand. Do it. Let’s get it over with.
(Computer + Odu Ifa)
Where is Mama Nigeria? Is the nation motherless? Where is the Helen Sirleaf Johnson of Nigeria?…
Baba Rowland Abiodun, author of the groundbreaking treatise, YORUBA ART AND LANGUAGE: SEEKING THE AFRICAN IN AFRICAN ART, enlightening the audience at the University of Texas, Austin.
I remember when I was a curator at the Denver Art Museum from 1999-2008.
One of the highlights of my days in Denver was the opening of the African art gallery designed by Daniel Libeskind, (aka Best Architect in the World).
It is five years already when I did this solo.
The soil is the medium–not a single drop of synthetic paint in my work: I produce every color with carefully collected soils.
I gave my paper titled, “Can’t Kant Count: Ifa Divines for African Art History,” at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, over the weekend.
Many people gave me warm responses.
Here I was, doodling on my coffee cup while listening to another talk at the conference.
CAN’T KANT COUNT?
My Egungun is dancing as we speak in an exhibition at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as part of an installation titled “Whirling Return of the Ancestors.”
The stuff in my office needs organizing. One day I’ll get to it. One of these days when I have nothing to do.
Coffeehouse in Austin.It can get pretty wild out here in Austin if you know what I mean.
The first woman president in Africa, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, visited my class yesterday to talk to students taking my DIASPORA VISIONS course.
A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and one of Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in the world, President Sirleaf was a delight to spend time with.
Moyo Okediji
Excavations from Wankanda I
Medium: Archaeology
2018