ègbé òrun

“ègbé òrun” emerged as a personal prayer addressed to ancestral societies. In African-derived traditions, Ègbé can be understood as community, while Òrun refers to the sky, or more precisely, the spiritual realm. Within Yoruba cosmology, Ègbé Òrun can be understood as a dimension of ancestral belonging, connected to an existence that precedes earthly experience. The work originated from a drawing I made during my initiation process in Candomblé, which emerged from a dream in which I witnessed the imagery of this ancestral community. Initially, it presented itself as a record of an intimate experience. I like to think of it as a memory that precedes the body; in this sense, I understand the work as an image that seems to emerge from a place prior to my own individual experience. “ègbé òrun” operates as a form of retrieval, not literally of something that has been lost, but as an approach towards the secrets, teachings and perceptions that have been entrusted to me throughout my journey. The painting thus becomes a form of prayer, an engagement with that which remains between the visible and the invisible. The personal dimension of the work, however, does not end with my own experience. By evoking an ancestral community, the work shifts the idea of belonging beyond physical territory and suggests an understanding of community founded also upon memory, ancestry and continuity.