Nkorigible

Ikeoha of Amichi; Okpata Ozuoha of Isu; Mmiri Na Ezoro Ora of Amaigbo has gone. On Tuesday April 25, 2023 at around 10pm after a 22-year run as a multiple-stroke survivor, among other challenges, my father Vivi OlisaEmeka Oruche took his last breaths on this realm. He died in his home in Lagos, Nigeria surrounded by my mother, his home care nurse, and his 12 year-home manager and carer Samuel. Within 90 minutes of my father’s passing, my brother Arinze, and I, and my sister Ginika (via video call) were able to be with him as his spirit continued to leave his body. As he got cold, and more distant. Vivi Oruche has left on earth, his wife, my mother Teena Oruche, 4 children; Nkeiruka (me), Arinze A.O., OlisaEmeka (jr.), and Ginika, and 2 grandchildren. He also leaves behind his 92-year old mother, and 9 siblings of which he is #3, the 2nd son to his parents. In addition, uncountable family members, and a tribe of people whose lives he greatly impacted. Nothing ever fully prepares you for death. Yet, as much as I’ve dreaded this ‘day’, when I take stock silently, I realize I am as prepared as I’d ever be. I’m able to meet this surreality, not riddled with guilt and regret, but with a bottomless sadness, and gratitude. By the time my father, Vivi Oruche, was 47, he had lived a life many could only ever imagine or dream of. He had visited countless cities around the world, made countless friends and acquaintances, seeded endless projects through business ideas, community projects, and investment in people.  Using any yardstick, my Father wasn’t perfect, (no one is). When a person dies, it’s easy to have selective memory, to only glorify the good details. Yet, after being mired in the murky bitterness of our relationship and family dynamics for most of my teenage and adult life, I choose this opportunity to reflect on the ‘wins’. As a child, he was just my father, but hearing anecdotes about him cement the fact that he was larger-than-life in many ways. CONT. IN COMMENTS

Y'all.... I feel like there is SO much to say and like tell... but I don't know when or how I will. I'm not gonna front like you will be able to get the gists in the ways I imagine I wanna share them. Cos the way my life/time/body is set up... sigh. There's a lot to wade through, and I'm also feeling exponentially exhausted,  disappointed, behind on so much in my administrative work, my family/domestic, and my own personal health and wellness care. On the other hand, there feels like this omg you're gonna miss the moment... if you don't share/talk about it now, it will disappear. Well... (steps into a self-help meme booth) ONE THING if anything  I've learned in this past month is, to fuck what I think everyone needs/wants and tend to myself.  Because people will want what they want even if it means you wring yourself out to death. (Steps out pettier than last year). Now that I've become one of those annoying niggas on the internet who post shit that makes everyone but themselves the problem, I will go on to say... Let me acknowledge some of the external happenings... 'things of note' if you will. The easy way out for now. Cos do I exist if I don't post? Let's call this a 'News Dump' In the mean time, I'll be in back here in the trenches, writing (yet again) very late grant reports, watching my creative mind wither away, trying to stay present with my children, try to drink water and eat vegetables,  double booking meetings, sleeping or die trying, exorcising demons, processing invoices, and cellotaping my marriage.  🙃 But look I'm in news articles and shit. Stay distracted Until next time, my friends. 1. Hold my beer 2. Photo of torn out article page in @sfchronicle @sfchronicle_datebook by Rachel Howard Headline reads ‘Oruche’s trip to native Nigeria pays dividends’ IN GOOD OL’ NEWSPRINT!! 3. Screenshot Headline reads ‘Oakland choreographer’s confidence as an artist is stunning yet nascent’ 4. Thank you to the GUILD OF NIGERIAN DANCE PRACTITIONERS (GONDP) LAGOS CHAPTER for this acknowledgment. I haven’t even finished crying. AN honor I cherish above most. Cc @lagosgondp @ugoobiayo @okachamma_dance @gbedutownradio Continued in comments

Baddies 📷: Nkeiruka Oruche This is a womens cultural dance troupe from my maternal hometown/village. One thing about me.... If I see women playing music...I will lose all manner of home training. For this one though...I had to tame myself a bit and strike a balance between dancing, praising them, and capturing some snaps. Because ultimately I realized I needed to have a steady camera hand to memorialize them as I could at the moment. I got reminded of this especially now because I just got a copy of a book that is a photo documentary on a specific Igbo community. I was so fucking excited to have this treasure, I could not wait to open it and lap it up. As I kept going through the book, I became less and less interested in its content. Something was off.  I realized something jarring.... If you went by the  images and narratives  in the book, you might believe that males birthed males. That it was a society of just men. Lol. There was scarce representation of anything to do women... a whole thick ass coffee table book that highlighted a communities rites and social practices from birth to death, and I had to dig for features and images of women and girls... and the few that I found were passive with the women out of focus. I laughed cos I can't cry. Then I got reminded why it's crucial for me to be a documentarian, for me to be an archivist,  for me to be an active cultural practitioner. Because if I have them tell it... I ... we... may never have existed. So until further notice, I'm on this table. No doubts. No distractions. No dulling.

@gozeface how far with @nkorigible ‘s stained white shirt? Saying this is an Incredible piece of work is understatement. Congratulations to everyone involved on a successful opening night. April 10, we are coming back deep with rest of the squad. Everyone bring your tissues so you don’t have to take your shirt to the dry cleaners after. @gozeface @sullivanjones @tamilla_woodard @adesolaosakalumi @sarjncharge @margogot @senait_mengstab @shiashabazzsmithwriter @its_daveed @kanukai #afrourbansociety #themonsters #berkeleyrep #blacktheater

Opening Night! Listen I'm not gonna tell you how to get there, run, walk, roll, crawl, get dragged, wheel in, slide thru... whatever and howeverrrrrr, but get there before the run is up. 'The Monsters' by @gozeface . Pre, during, post show at @berkeleyrep . What a gorgeous offering to the world. Shout out to the whole mfkin cast and crew. Y'all really did something.  SEE YOU APRIL 10 cos I'm going AGAIN!!! @afrourbansociety gonna be doing theee most lol. @gozeface @sullivanjones @tamilla_woodard @adesolaosakalumi @sarjncharge --- @margogot @senait_mengstab @shiashabazzsmithwriter @its_daveed @kanukai

INVOLVE ME INVOLVE ME! Oya oooo. I am involving you! Sat March 21 Mixtape for Mourning: Song Circle & Creative Session 3:30-5:30PM | @Ovrhl , Oakland  Sat, Mar 28 All-Ages Egusi & Fufu Cooking w. @AfroCultureKids 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM | Fruitvale, Oakland  Fri April 10  Sibling REVEL-RY: Black Theater Night & Pre-show Mixer with @afrourbansociety 6:30PM | Berkeley Rep, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley Sun Jul 21 ONLINE: Onwu Di Njo: Grief circle & creative writing w. Nkeiruka Oruche & Micheal French 10:00 AM-1:00PM | ONLINE  Sun Aug 16 Onwu Di Njo: Grief Circle & Creative Writing Workshop w. Nkeiruka Oruche & Micheal French 2:00-5:30 PM | Oakland, CA Demure photos by @kanugraphy Get involved /upcoming

Blek Joy with @afrourbansociety @afroculturekids

Ọnwa Mbụ

If you want to see this play come to life on a stage near or far from you (‘cos it’s a fking gorgeous script), INVOLVE ME. I don talk my own. Anywayyyyyy #TBT to my 2025 The Ground Floor residency at @berkeleyrep Berkeley Rep. Asides from writing drafts of a new play... in no particular order some things: Oh what it is to be held & handled by the Berkeley Rep Team from Artistic to production, to housing to food to fellows. *chef’s kiss And to have deep and vast awe and affirmation from co-residents: Nemuna Ceesay Eric Emauni, a.k. payne, Ashley Thomas, Nora Schell, Brandon Michael Nas, Max Wolf Friedlich, Hannah Getts, Michael Herwitz, Daniel Alexander Jones, Gloria Majule Then fall head over heart, and the opportunity to meet, work with, and get over the fear of sharing your work with Bay Area actors: Samuel Ademola, Rotimi Agbabiaka Actor, Asia Jackson Actor, Jeunee Simon. Going on another trip in this journey of life with my ace Kanukai Chigamba @kanugraphy , the story too long And my beautiful smart confident and present children rolling up and being witnesses and lifelong collaborators with my bd in tow.

How do you feel about how we navigate death news in our society/families/world today? How are death announcements typically handled in your culture or community? Do you feel like those practices should be modified? What would you like to see more of? Less of? Is a text or social media post the way? ------------ “You have to come with your elders. You can't just come alone and just come and announce that, oh, we lost this thing. You can't just outrightly go and tell them, oh, we have lost your daughter. No, it's not possible. Like, you come home, they'll see you, talk to you normally, offer you this thing. You go, come, you come back again, maybe at your third meeting, they will not ask you, “okay, what truly is bringing you here?”." - Amaka, ‘Onwu Sure For You, a Millennials guide to Death’ It was 1996 and I was called into my father’s bedroom suite. My father was sitting on his blue-grey massage chair that up until then had been a source of endless joy and play for me. Whether because I snuck into his room, sitting in it while pressing the various buttons, popping out the leg rest up and down, or I was invited in, sitting on the leg stool facing my father and biting into a shared platter of isi ewu, nkwọbi, roasted bush meat, stewed snails or spicy suya, whichever my father desired as his late-night snack of the day. The AC in my father’s room typically kept the room so cold, my teeth chattered at times, but that day I wondered if it was defunct. The cold instead seemed to come instead from somewhere inside me. My father was in a silhouette that I had never seen before. His head was leaned back against the chair's neck rest, his eyes looking up to the ceiling and he was quiet. Still. I ran through possibilities of bad news: an imminent estate system breakdown, a Nigerian government coup, the super eagles losing a match, or an even more delayed shipping containers of goods for his business. Still, none of these previous scenarios had presented my father in this way. Subdued. Without words. Unable to look at me directly in the eyes. — Cover photo: SbdeM Additional Photos credits Brooke Anderson Kola Shobo

Nigerian Designers are hot cake right now. Sustainability is still a buzzword. And I'm still on a mission to 'make African tradition cool again'. In September 2023 I was swept into a cluster of unending events in commemoration of my father’s death. And in true Igbo/Naija style, the “what are we going to wear?” question vied for first-place on my to-do list. If you've ever witnessed a contemporary Igbo funeral, IRL or by photo, you may have noticed an all-white ensemble worn by the ‘Chief Mourners’ (spouses, and children/descendants of the deceased). Now, while I love a ‘unifying’ dress code for an event, the idea of getting clothes that I’ll never wear past the event, didn't work for me. Enter Emmy Kasbit. The unisex fashion brand founded by Emmanuel Okoro prioritizing sustainability, cultural heritage, and traditional craftsmanship. The ideal co-conspirator to realize this vision. Working with them gave me the opportunity to engage with a fie fie team, and tap into our indigenous Igbo craft and skills to achieve something beautiful! The team: Me, @nkorigible Nkeiruka Oruche (VOO Legacy Creative Director), @bruna.bsa Bruna Alves (Graphic Designer), My sister @geekneekwa Ginika Oruche (Style/Design Consultant), & Emmanuel Okoro (@emmykasbit Founder & Creative Director), Philomena Chigozie (Weaver) and the Emmy Kasbit team. Select photograhy by @kanugraphy Full article link on my website

When we use what we have to create possibilities for others, that's the life. That's the ideal. Nchedo. Shelter. Creating. Connection. @Nchedo.co Arts Foundation is the baby of conteporary visual artist @chidinma.nnoli . (Whose work I've created a separate savings account to work towards affording). *cough* @kenokenett Nchedo a nonprofit interdisciplinary project & artist residency space that can house up to 4 artists in residence to live/work for a set time. The space is warm, welcoming, and invigorating. I got to visit the Open Studio with current Artist-in-Residence, Blossom Oyeyipo @blossomoyeyipo.studio ; peek into Chidinmas personal studio, and check out work in progress by the dynamic photographer @byamarachinnoli . With everything going on rn. I'm full of hope. I'm inspired. A creative who loves, and loves ON other creatives? That's it. That's the solution. You can support Nchedo's work by purchasing these lovely tote bags featuring original work by Chidinma Nnoli