Photo taken by Ariella Horvath.
Join Olúwáṣọlá Kẹ́hìndé Olówó-Aké in a virtual talk that discusses black lives and racial injustice in Vancouver—and how her online exhibit seeks to tell her story.
About Ahọn Dudu:
“Before I moved to Vancouver, I was told that it was a diverse place. In fact, this trait will be a contributing factor to my ease of finding home here. Upon arrival, my experience of this place proved different from the ideas I was told; this made me curious and further led me to embark on a journey of inquiry—I was going to find out why the disparities were existing and how to exist holistically within this environment.
Ahọn Dudu is an online exhibit that aims at using Yorùbá storytelling frameworks to tell stories about my experience with lack of black communal culture in Vancouver. I tell these stories through the Yorùbá lens of ‘the spectacle’—a show put on to teach and entertain; which encompasses oral storytelling, poetry, song, dance and garment construction.
The stories that make up this body of work are expressions of my own recent experiences. They are responses to racial barriers I encountered over the Summer of 2020 as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests were unfolding and heightening in America and here in Vancouver, Canada. They are a recount of the continuous conversations that occurred in my life—as I discussed black lives, racism, police brutality and many other forms of injustice—within the community I was a part of.”
—Olúwáṣọlá Kẹ́hìndé Olówó-Aké
Keywords: Yorùbá storytelling; ‘the spectacle’; Yorùbá; decolonisation; embodied knowledge.
About the presenter:
Olúwáṣọlá Kẹ́hìndé Olówó-Aké is a Nigerian of the Yorùbá ethnic group, born in Lagos State. She is a designer of sorts in ‘a place where things roam’. Her design practice focuses on using Yorùbá storytelling methods to speak into issues on race she experiences in her environment and additionally depict narratives that are befitting of black bodies – through dance, song, ways of wearing and poetry. She also has a podcast on spotify named ‘…into words with Sola.’
Instagram: @kehindeolowoake
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/solaolowoake
Register for the event to receive the Zoom link:
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Antje Ziethen at antje.ziethen@ubc.ca.
This event is hosted by UBC’s Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies in collaboration with the African Studies program. It is organized by Dr. Antje Ziethen, Assistant Professor of French.
