The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe once wrote that “A person who doesn't travel would say that their mother cooks the best soup”. I do travel sometimes and although my mom is a great cook, I would regret it if I have missed out on some of the culinary artistry created by people all around the world. My work is highly influenced by my roots, which are my origins, my starting points, but it is also continuously evolving through my “routes”, which are the different journeys outside my home, the encounters with new people and places. Even my roots are made of various routes, journeys and encounters. I was born in Sabon-Gari Kano State in the north of Nigeria, to parents of Igbo origin from the south-eastern part of Nigeria. Baptized a Roman catholic and educated in a pentecostal christian missionary school.
I grew up speaking Hausa as the language of the city where I was born, Igbo with my parents at home, forced to speak English In school, and with my friends we communicated with an outlawed version of the English language referred to as “Pidgin English”. Today In addition, I speak German and French. I am also interested in Hip-hop music and dance, practice Buddhist mindfulness, and have spent considerable time researching Maasai cultural dances in kenya. I am interested in these multiplicities, resting at that intersection of cultures where negotiation and exchange happens. This is the home of my creativity, the place of tension and questioning, of indecision and doubt, of being lost in translation and trying to find my way home again and again and again and again…………………..
