Perfect day at the John Randle Centre for Yorùbá Culture & History. If you haven’t already been, here’s some stuff to look out for:
-There’s a really cool glowing orb just as you enter and in the middle there’s an animated short that takes us through the story of the origin of the Yoruba people. I particularly liked this bit because it really set the tone for the rest of the exhibition. The room was dark except for the light coming from the orb which lit the paintings and the wall art behind it just right. I can’t explain it well enough; you actually just have to go iwl
-i unfortunately did not get any pictures of my favourite part of the exhibition. My heart is swelling even writing about it omg. Just after you enter and go past all the deities and right before you get to the masquerades, there’s this sunset wall mural with tree branches emerging from it. There’re also stools made of tree stumps. It caught my eye immediately. If you haven’t already guessed, it was a Tales By Moonlight installation. I didn’t get it at first either but once I did I nearly started crying because I felt so immersed in the experience.
-there is also a section with a glass display of vinyls from Yoruba music legends like my fave King Sunny Ade. I didn’t bother trying to get a picture of that because it would have made me angry because I wouldn’t have been able to capture it the way I was seeing it with my eyes
-the history is bitter, but one of my favourite bits of Yoruba lore is the Yorubas in the Diaspora. There’s a whole section on how the Yoruba’s forcefully taken as slaves to Portugal tried to merge/preserve their religious practices
-are you still reading?
-FABRIC! There’s a section where we explore Yoruba fashion and the origin of fabric like Ankara, Aso Oke and Adire. I thought that was really beautiful
Also, as a huge sucker for nostalgia, I loved seeing the old bread labels and the old tv props.
Will keep updating this post as I remember more things about this perfect day. But yes, please go check it out if you haven’t already!
Sweet Mother (work in progress)
Hello friends,
I showed my work in public for the first time at the BYOAAS at Hen’s Teeth yesterday! It was also my first time painting on canvas. I’ve been painting a lot since I started in January, and I truly love it, but what’s been keeping me going is the incredible support and encouragement I’ve been receiving. It all really really means a lot to me and I wanted to say thank you.
This painting is actually not finished (long story), so I’m going to keep working on it and share it here when I finish, along with all the other stuff I’ve been working on.
I’ve also always really wanted to take an artist photo like this so yeah thank you @lornafkm 😭😭
❤️🩷❤️🩷
