Ongodiyedire

For the day’s project, I told my students to look at liberation as a muse and by the end of the day, I had stacks of beautiful potraits. When Marian placed her canvas in front of me, it was moody and gloomy as usual ,I wanted to just say ‘Put it with the rest'   But I could have sworn I saw a streak of light. I looked at the painting and I was taken aback. I am quite familiar with potraits of people crouching in an illuminated room with a silhouette figure lurking in the hallway or at the door but Marian's potrait had a figure in the dark that was illuminated by a shadow. A lucent shadow I saw the features of the face and a feminine figure crouched in the darkness with an awry smile all highlighed by the shadow. ‘How did you come up with this?’  I was amazed because her art was worthy of exhibition She smirked and said ‘When I draw, I don’t want compliments, I don’t want nice things said in return. I just want people to look at the shit and be spee...

I am almost easily fascinated by anything. My wife Dalia would say I am bullish, well I could be in a sort of way. I once made a mural out of wet shoelaces I picked from dumpsters. She became endeared to me when I made made a painting out of the coffee she spilled on the table on our first date.  ‘I am so sorry I made a mess'  She said as she tore frantically at the paper towels but I held her hand, placed it on her lap as she squeezed the towel tightly, then I drew the most beautiful coffee panda. She blushed like a school girl and felt so bad when the squirmish sales girl wiped it off from the table. She barely saw me frown at anything and five years after saying ‘I do' just the two of us, at the beach with our feet buried in the sand as the minister pronounced us husband and wife, we have been stuck in that beautiful memory, full of optimism and full of hope for our beautiful twin girls. I am a Fine and Applied Arts Professor at the State University and I w...

As the news of the mass rape conducted during the free concert hosted by Flavour in Enugu is continuously peddled on blogs, I can't help but wonder if it is a crime to be born as a woman in Nigeria. The heart wrenching news of vile men in tens, moving up and down a concert in full swing, singling out their preys and taking her pride by force. Rendering her utterly useless as they fondle her privates shamelessly before taking turns to wear condoms and have their way until they reach the peak of their pleasure. Like a hungry fool who walked into a continental buffet and ravishes the meal without permission and before the exquisitely dressed host can eloquently say Bon appetit! They are the lords of the arena, unstoppable with a distasteful flame of monstrous libido which can only be quenched when they draw blood and jerk off to the helplessness of their victims as they give a loud grunt of savor then step down for the next man to have the same experience that can't be ...