Oríkì
Àbèbí Agbó, Omo Agbó máàtí, Omo agbérekete f’Óba! Gbígbé lèyín ngbé, Omolómo ní nru igi oko.
Among the Yorùbá of Òyó, oríkì are poetic utterances recited to honor a person. It is an affirmation of a person’s essence, their history, and their connection to their roots, past, present and future. It i...
Blind Love
Love isn’t blind. Love is seeing. Seeing through the façade and into the hurt.
Ìyánlá: Great Mother
[caption id="attachment_4308" align="aligncenter" width="652"] Ìyánlá Headdress: Henry Drewal.[/caption]
From Ìyá Agón of the Égúngún to Erelú of the Ògboni or Ìyálásè of the Èfè Gèlèdé, and Ìyá Orò of the Orò, women have always played a significant, albeit little, part in Yorùbá cults and traditional organizations. ...
Beneath These Skins
“Hi! My name is Sarah Parker.” She says and you smile at her. “I’m Ese Osemwenke.” You reply, trying hard to stop yourself from asking her if her middle name is Jessica.
She is pretty, with shoulder-length hair the color of corn silk, and eyes that are very blue you ca...
ABIAMO
Emma Emeh (2001). Acrylic on Canvass
I sit quietly, holding his tiny body in my arms. The fever that wracked his body last night has left him cold today. He hasn’t cried in days and I long to hear that sound that tells me my child is fighting, the sound that tells me he hasn’t given up, that like me, he is holding on for dear life.
...
The Woman in the Painting
She is half in profile, looking away from the viewer at some intriguing out-of-view object, an almost imperceptible smile on her lips like she is sharing a private joke with that intriguing out-of-view object, or subject. There is a serenity to her that exudes an uncanny sense of self-worth. Her eyes appear to hold a lifetime of secrets despit...
I Am. Not.
Identity. Belongingness. I’ve been asked countless times, in different forms, who I am. How do you see yourself? What do you identify with or as? Where are you from? Who are you? I’ve been told not to lose myself, not to let anyone put me in a box, not to let anyone tell me what I can or cannot be. I’ve been told to fight for my ide...
THE OATH
We made The Oath. The three of us. A three-fold cord that cannot be broken. We did it for love. For life. For justice. For what was right. For all we stood for and believed in.
We swore to uphold Truth and Righteousness. We beat our chests and declared war on evil, And everything that was wrong with our world. We would be the vo...
WISHES AND WISDOM
I looked into the eyes of a mad woman, And it took me into her mind, And it was oh so beautiful, and serene, With soft, tender places, Offering comfort from the crazy world without, And it begged to linger, Take a rest, Put my feet up, Cushion my head, Forget my worries, And for just one tiny, bitty moment, Pretend that the world...
Àdùnní Olórìsà: Priestess and Art Champion
There are several interesting things about Àdùnní Olórìsà, Priestess of the goddess Òsun and guardian of the Sacred Groves on the banks of the Òsun River in Òsogbo, but perhaps the most intriguing is the fact that she was a white woman. Born Susanne Wenger on the 4th of July 1915 in Graz, southern Austria during WWI, she grew ...
