a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1982 (Part Thirty-five)

ByMoyo Okediji

How could I have missed Obaseki’s car as he followed us from the campus? I prided myself in being careful on the road, paying attention to the vehicles around me, and particularly in making sure that I was aware of my environment.

But as a Yoruba proverb says, one cannot be as clever as the sneak who is observing one’s activities.

The situation was critical. Obaseki was in attack mode and was no longer in full control.

Any careless statement from Gina or me could escalate the delicate matter into a full-blown crisis.

“Obaseki,” I said, “there is a misunderstanding. You are not reading things correctly.”

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

BIRDS IN FLIGHT

ByMoyo Okediji

Is it true that all men are born equal?

No.

We are born with different talents and handicaps.

But we may agree that “All men SHOULD be born equal, but the circumstances of each birth vary.”

Some people are born close to the finishing line, and many are born right at the beginning of the starting point in this race of life.

Others are placed even behind the official starting line, and they must also race with those placed only a few feet from the finishing line where all the goodies of life are stored.

a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY 1982: (Part Thirty-four)

ByMoyo Okediji

I could not believe my ears.

“You got pregnant from the rape?”

“Yes.”

“How did that happen?” I was making no sense with the question, but the situation was hardly making any sense either.

My throat felt dry. The bottles of palm wine on the table were still unopened.

I had to drink something immediately, I was thinking, or I would suffocate. This Gina was going to kill me.

a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY: (Part Thirty-Three).

ByMoyo Okediji

Madam Ngu looked at my most recent painting and from the expression on her face, I could see that she did not like it.

She sat on the big chair in the center of my studio in the Ekenwan campus. I had arranged my paintings around the wall as she requested, ready for her critique.

“Muyo,” she said, “you need more life drawing classes.”

“Yes, madam,” I responded.

Art of Social Distancing

Art of Social Distancing

ByMoyo Okediji

Yesterday, my friend, Femi, called from Maryland and we had a long and beautiful conversation on the art of social distancing.

He wanted to buy a painting.

I told him I was happy to sell a painting and sent him a picture of the work.

I said the painting would look good as a Zoom backgrounder—like when FOX News calls and wants your opinion.

Are you going to panic because the artless interior of your home would suddenly become exposed to hundreds of millions of people on television and social media?

My edited book on the work of Dotun Popoola is now out.

My edited book on the work of Dotun Popoola is now out.

ByMoyo Okediji

My edited book on the work of Dotun Popoola is now out.

It looks so magnificent, like a grande Egungun performance.

The publisher says it goes for 50,000 naira per copy.

This hyper-colorful hardcover book that is larger than a royal Agbada arrived at my doorsteps for the New Year.

It is the most beautiful book I have ever seen.

Congrats to the wonderful art historians, Kunle Filani, Tolulope Sobowale, Olusegun Fajuyigbe, and Kehinde Adepegba, who contributed powerful essays to the book.

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

ENGLISHMAN IN BENIN CITY, 1982 (Part Thirty-Two)

ByMoyo Okediji

Steve quickly realized that it was a bad idea to take off his shirt to enjoy the breeze. He hurriedly wore it back. He had complained about the heat, which was one of the reasons we left the house.

Steve, finally, decided to take us to a place not too far from the house to show off the body of water he said he discovered. He had been raving about it, but we were unable to go and see it, distracted by the various things happening in such rapid succession.

Prominent on the list of my to-do-things was a visit to River Steve.

a picture showing moyo okediji sitting with his arms crosseed in front of one of his art piece

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

ByMoyo Okediji

Is it merely a coincidence that the news of the abduction and assassination by suspected Fulani invaders of Oba Israel Adeusi, the Olufon of Ifon, happened the very same day that the United States is celebrating the annual Thanksgiving event?

There is no coincidence in history.

Nature times things with organic orchestration.

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

VISUAL PROVERBS: ABO

ByMoyo Okediji

VISUAL PROVERBS: ABO

Let’s play with words.

Let’s play with images.

Let’s construct figures of speech.

Let’s do òwé, and ride it down the lane of memory.

Let’s break things all down; then pack them all back together.

Let’s see what will fall out, what will fall in.

Let us now begin to speak in proverbs.

a post showing Moyo OKediji art piece

I looked into the middle of the Opon Ifa and what did I see?

ByMoyo Okediji

In 2016, I looked into the middle of the Opon Ifa and what did I see?

I saw women, simple, rural, agrarian women carrying automatic weapons on their way to their farmlands.

Some of them were pregnant, some carrying loads on their heads, some with their children, some walking alone, some hiking in groups, all moving from one point to another.

I sat up abruptly. What was this I was seeing?

a picture showing moyo okediji eating from a plate and behind him is one of hi art piece.

THE ROADMAP

ByMoyo Okediji

I drove to my favorite drive-in coffee shop and stopped at the window to collect my standard order of “Banana bread with nuts, warmed, and a small cup of coffee, black.”

She was waiting for me. She smiled broadly. Her name tag read Jazmine.

“You always have your coffee black,” Jazmine observed. “I like mine with some cream and sugar.”

“Your shirt is cool, Jazmine,” I said. I stretched out my hand from the window of the car as she leaned out from the window of the coffee house to hand me my order.