Great Folks Found in Dakar: Moyo Okediji [@DakartBiennale]
My short but much appreciated meeting with Moyo Okediji at Hôtel Sokhamon as he attended Global Black Consciousness for DAK’ART 2014 was my only classic journalistic moment for my two weeks on the continent. I saw him, introduced myself very quickly and attempted to secure an interview. You see, modern kids, I did not even know the name Moyo Okediji—but when I looked upon him I knew he was important and relevant to what I was looking for. After the “normal” search engine session, “we” can see Dr. Okediji in detail:
Moyo Okediji was born in Lagos Nigeria. Parents moved to Ile Ife when he was two. He had his primary education in Ile Ife, and went to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, for his secondary school. [He] returned to Ife for his university education in 1973, and was awarded a B.A. with honors in Fine Arts in 1977, by the University of Ife. He received his MFA from the University of Benin in 1982, and returned to the University of Ife, where he became a lecturer. He founded and led the Ona Artists in Ile Ife, where he taught classes in painting, drawing, ceramics and art history. He organized several international conferences and symposia, and edited proceedings from some of these events.
Dr. Okediji is currently Professor of Art History and Director of the Center for the Art of Africa and its Diasporas at The University of Texas at Austin.
After my equally appreciated meeting with Richard J. Powell, researching for books by Moyo Okediji is a must. This effort was fruitful! I am very much looking forward to getting my copy of The Shattered Gourd: Yoruba Forms in Twentieth-Century American Art.
What about the interview you may ask? Was it worthy of my DAK’ART press pass? The motion-picture interview is slated to appear in a documentary in production by R/Kain Blaze. Thanks very much to Dr. Okediji for taking the time.