GOOD OL’ DAYS
CULTURE
The memories are in my eyes, my hair, my chest, my hands, my skin, my mouth, my legs, and my belly.
Were the “good old days” really good? Or is
this phrase a common irony? Let’s take a moment to remember the things that we
did not experience, and the things that we did.
Remember
the tales of brutal wars, and scorching sexism that burned the soul like death.
Remember the tales of voicelessly being oppressed and of stone goddesses and
gods wielding the power of ignorance, of children falling to their deaths in
blackened waters because they came as pairs. Tales of the worthless existence
forcefully occupied by human beings because of the colour that covered them. Of
tearful skies and bloodied earth. These were the good old days.
I remember the experience of the
vulnerability of ignorance borne of childhood, and the bliss thereof. I remember
the experience of wild emotions and hardening walls, of tearful eyes and a
laughing mouth. I remember being younger and smaller. Goody-goody taffy sweets
mouthful, a world seemingly less complicated, less intrusive, and I remember
losing all of that. These were the good old days.
There is never a single story to it, never
absolutely nostalgia or aversion, sometimes ironic and sometimes not.
The past will always affect me, in many
ways it moulded me. But right now, I’m undergoing a process and to some degree,
we all are. Yesterday in some sorts is a part of the past and it has the power
to affect today. In spite of all this, to be convinced that you’re still in the
process of being moulded, of touching the world by simply existing, of
simultaneously being part of the past, the present, and the future. This is how
a number of us perceive existence. A process of having been, being, and
becoming. A single faction that progresses with time, inside time, and as time.
Nigeria is getting closer to once again,
deciding its fate for the next four years. In this process, no single story
exists for the good old days. We remember colonization and the feeling of
unbelonging in a place we existed as inferiors. We remember the taste of
longing and glimmers of hope in independence and post-colonial Nigeria. We
remember the fear of uncertainty and the raw raging brutality of prejudice and
death; we remember a civil war and a country almost borne out of a country. We
remember the brazen lunatics that sang for peace and wrote for freedom, fought
for justice and died for life. We remember the fleeting bouts of happiness
peppering a field of struggle and sweat and pain. But most of all, we remember
a time before things fell apart.
I wish I could throw in a bit of wisdom or
two about our political fate. But there is so much chaos and unmeaning in our
midst and very little, if even, power in our hands. But for the sake of will,
we must try to remember mistakes we do not wish to repeat, we must try to make
our decisions knowing where we have been, knowing what we are, and thinking of
what we must become.
This was a
tremendous and mostly intuitive project with David Adikwu of @horsemenx and
Onyebuchi Ugwu of @oddwave. It was such a graceful process and I am sincerely
honoured to have collaborated with these two gifted creatives in their
respective spheres of work. I hope you enjoyed both my captured BTS and the
retro photography perspective of Timi of @Vortex_corps? I appreciate and value
your presence on this space as much as I value creating the work that I do,
thank you.
P.S any insights
on the upcoming Nigerian elections?
A hi nya, with love, x E
Retro
Photography || Timi
BTS
photography and editing || Ene Ijato
Styling || Ene Ijato, Onyebuchi Ugwu, and
David Adikwu
Creative
Directing || Femi Olujewu
Hair
and Makeup || Ene Ijato
2 comments
Wow
ReplyDeleteBeautiful article.
It really seems like the chaotic state of the countries politics has trived beyond all wisdom.
This corruption is now in our blood as citizens first and to change the country and its politics we need to change from the inside too.
Its every body's job and no ones job.
Although I completely agree with you, the change we seek is easier said than done. But even so, it is necessary as you have rightfully said, for us to internalize this awareness, and i hope that we do. It is better than doing nothing at all.
DeleteEager to hear your thoughts!