Pamela Enyonu
Kwepena, 2022
Mixed media on canvas
120 x 70 cm
A Daughter's Prayer Our mother Which art Give us this day our daily bread Unbind us from to the shackles of the father's priests Untangle us from the curse of...
A Daughter's Prayer
Our mother
Which art
Give us this day our daily bread
Unbind us from to the shackles of the father's priests
Untangle us from the curse of trading our happiness for our brothers' own
Save us from the protection steeped in ownership
Of our bodies,
Our dreams,
Our desires.
Free us.
Free us from the weight
of unrealistic expectations
of the shame that seems abundant for us
Give us fancy.
So we may
Discover,
Explore,
Invent,
So we may live.
The work depicts a girl in act of dodging or catching a ball during a game of dodge ball called 'kwepena' , a metaphor for the experiential aspect of navigating experiences of existing in our bodies.
Our mother
Which art
Give us this day our daily bread
Unbind us from to the shackles of the father's priests
Untangle us from the curse of trading our happiness for our brothers' own
Save us from the protection steeped in ownership
Of our bodies,
Our dreams,
Our desires.
Free us.
Free us from the weight
of unrealistic expectations
of the shame that seems abundant for us
Give us fancy.
So we may
Discover,
Explore,
Invent,
So we may live.
The work depicts a girl in act of dodging or catching a ball during a game of dodge ball called 'kwepena' , a metaphor for the experiential aspect of navigating experiences of existing in our bodies.
Provenance
The above works have been conceived during Pamela Enyonu’s artists’ residency in Venice, at AKKA Project Venice. They have been exhibited for the first time at AKKA Project gallery in Venice, and then at AKAA - Also Known As Africa - Fair in Paris, in October 2022.