They bring hidden truths to the surface—buried emotions, memories, and histories drawn from the depths of the Well of Sorrow, my metaphor for the accumulated pain and collective grief carried from the past.
Years of research were necessary before I could see myself reflected in her mirror — to understand myself through her eyes. Accepting what I discovered took even longer. As James Baldwin observed, truly knowing something intimately also means confronting its darker and more troubling dimensions.
With Phosphorus — whether understood as a god, a cult, or a metaphor for illumination, revelation, and awareness—we are asked to examine how social systems can create those who are excluded and cast aside as “bastards.” My inquiry considers how enslavement, control over women, inheritance, and systems of arranged and exclusive marriage shaped ideas of legitimacy, family, and belonging. I explore these forces as part of a much larger historical transformation that contributed to patriarchal social structures, racial hierarchy, and the displacement of older African feminine traditions.
At first glance, these works may appear to be little more than ancient European stories — metaphors carrying the inherited wisdom of a dominant culture. My research, however, asks us to look beneath that familiar interpretation and consider the possibility of deeper African influences and connections.
the possibility of deeper African influences and connections.
Through this reading, Metis becomes a warning against cruelty, fragmentation, and the loss of collective spirit. At the same time, it suggests that genuine collaboration can produce something unexpected and transformative: self-governance.
The Suppliant Maidens concludes the commentaries by bringing the feminine and the inclusive into sharper focus. I interpret its story through the idea of monocular vision — a concentrated way of observing, gathering, and transforming environmental intelligence. Through encounter with another world, familiar assumptions begin to dissolve, creating the possibility of seeing differently.
Their journey therefore becomes more than a migration from one place to another. It becomes a transformation of perception.
Through that transformation came unforeseen discoveries. Most importantly, they remained faithful to their vision, carrying their hopes, fears, knowledge, and imagination forward as they sought to shape both their world and their destiny.
