Interview with Fola Akinde (she/they) 24

Little Haiti/Little Havana/Westchester 

JR: What lineage are you connected to?

FA: For me, I have a Yoruba background. Both of my parents are Nigerian, in terms of a connection with Ifa or Yoruba. I would say that my family is mostly Yoruba, from the Yoruba tribe. But in terms of Ifa, my dad has gone through the initiation process. But other than that, most of my family, they're Christian, so also having that connection with the English. That aspect of the Bible has this hold on people in Nigeria, the aftermath of colonialism. I guess not really a divide, but there are sectors of who practices what in Nigeria. And also, there’s a mixture of Muslim cultures there too. So, it's different branches of religions.

You could talk about it, obviously, historically, but do you observe the combinations of those different religions, or things like that, in your family. How I was raised, it was very separate. I didn't have my dad around. My mom, she raised us completely. So, we were definitely connected to our maternal side, and that maternal side is deeply connected to Christianity. So, I, basically, was raised underneath that conception of practicing and continuing the work connected with the Bible and the Lord and just this idea of God. What is God? What is Jesus? So that plays a role. But over time, I would say, during my time in university, I was searching for this call back to ancestry and figuring out how to reconnect back to my paternal side. My mom told me that my father was initiated but I believe his family is still Christian. I'm not sure how things changed over time or if he just isolated himself out by being the only one practicing Ifa, but I know for sure he's still practicing it today. What's funny is that he and I don't really talk about this much but he directs and he writes. When I was younger, he wrote books talking about folklore and everything. Within his own writing, he talks about the Ifa culture and the Orishas and deities. I have one of his poetry books, his writing talking about how he got initiated. He wrote all of his poetry here talking about different aspects like the kingdom, the jungle, the wild, the spirit, motherhood, and aspects of Christianity and how that's kind of affected Ifa. I've been looking back into his work and figuring out how I can connect it back to my own practice. I was uncovering family secrets in a way. Or uncovering the trauma that happens when it comes to the abandonment of fatherhood. So, through that, I was thinking, in a way, ‘How could I contact him?’ and ‘Did he contact me?’ So, with Ifa, that was my only connection: learning the principles, learning the knowledge, and learning the cosmology. Through that, it connected back to my art practice in a way of reclaiming the history and legacy that has been there but has also been missing at the same time.

JR: What is your religion, practice, or spirituality? 

FA: I think of it as different stages, figuring out how to enter into the research, but also being respectful, because knowing that the information is sacred. Some things tend to be hidden, or some of the things are lost in translation. Some of these books and some of these texts have a kind of reliance on the West or focus on how they fit in the West. So, switching away from this idea of pleasing European standards, or this idea of meeting white supremacy or masculinity in that sense, is important. Through that, I was also thinking about my own queerness and this idea of expansion within duality, because a lot Yoruba cosmology talks about this expansion of duality and this expansion of twoness, and how the conditions of life kind of blossom through this. I feel like I draw in a way, I see my research in a way, as if it's four corners: north, south, east, west, and there's this outlier. And this outlier, it's this in-between space that moves between dualities. So, through that, I was thinking ‘How can I at least take this folklore or this mythology and connect it back to the ideas of storytelling and narrative, and actually reflect on those cultural aspects that I'm trying to connect back to?’ Especially with heritage, especially with preservation, the history, and how should I see myself in terms of looking into spirituality or religion. Seeing where those connections come from, and it is connected to my work. It comes through like an intuitive pathway, especially when it comes from me responding to these questions and to the research I'm doing, especially when it comes to concepts of water or memory or time and how that's related to the Orishas. Through the concepts of herbology and botany, studying elements of earth and elements of the world, and figuring out how that can manifest itself physically in all forms. It could be through looking into archives and making collages out of them, or looking into drawings, or how objects or how people were being depicted during those times, looking into different modes that came out from imperialism and figuring out how I can critique those modes while bringing in that aspect of spirituality and religion as a sense of reclaiming myself and acknowledging the ancestors.

JR: What is your first memory of spirituality or religion? 

FA: I mean, it does connect back to the teachings of the Bible and aspects of Christianity kind of lingering from growing up in and out of the church. Having that experience with Nigerian churches, but then also going to a Baptist church not too far from my house. Having those different experiences, I can see in terms of Christianity, but in terms of Spirituality, I feel like as a kid, I was aware of things that we can't see, and that things don't always have to be explained fully. There’s this question that lingers in the back of my mind, If everything has an answer, is there this other source that comes into play when it comes to events or what a person goes through? Less than a specific moment, I remember reading a story about folklore, about ghosts, that made me connect back to spirituality. That idea there is something that's calling somebody back into the present, and whether or not it could be an outside force, or whether or not it could be an object that's summoning that person. There is a spiritual essence that has this mystique to it.

JR: Who do you consider a mentor, leader, or teacher?

FA: There are multiple people who have impacted how I approach archives. Connecting back to spirituality and being respectful of the space, one person that sticks out would be Isabella Hartman, how she's looking to the path and creating imagined narratives as a response to oral stories or folklore or documents. A professor I had when I was in college, has a connection back to Nigeria as well, and she was also looking into Yoruba cosmology and Ifa. Within her class in art history, she pushed me to reflect on the cosmos, the idea of Ifa, and the Orishas, especially Yemaya and Oshun, and those maternal aspects that follow through. I also see books and poetry as what led me to look into this practice.

JR: Do you feel comfortable/safe to talk to family about your practice?

FA: I still tiptoe around it because my mom… she has her own superstitions. I know, with her own connection with Christianity, she understands that the Orisha still play a role in our culture. It's still relevant. It's still present in Nigeria but there is this separation from it. So, I do feel as though I have to tiptoe around the conversations of Orisha. But she understands that my work is connected through a lens of studying the history, the folklore, and how spirituality manifested itself culturally through iconography, how information has traveled, and how these Orishas are being spoken of or represented through different cultures. I've realized through figuring out my connection with the Orishas and unraveling my own spirituality, it feels like a personal journey, like trying to reconnect back to yourself, reconnect how you view yourself and how you look into the world as a way to guide yourself into how to be in these practices and approach with care.

JR: Do you consider your relationship to spirit ancestor work?
FA: Yes, but I would also extend it to memory work as well. This idea of calling back to ancestry or calling back to the land. Whether it's here in Miami, Nigeria itself, or looking at other places that have been impacted by the enslavement of people. Through that connection, I'm trying to bridge everything together.

It connects back to the journey that Black individuals have gone through, and being commodified. How are you participating in the commodification of the sacred text? Is it coming from a point of respect? And where is it coming at the point of like? Are you being an onlooker? Are you just being invasive? Figuring out how to hold yourself accountable and knowing where you're placing yourself within that relationship?