Dear Editor,
Our home is the bottom flat of Eusi’s mother’s house, Buxton, and is my only real estate in the world.
There, I not only went about planting greens and fruit trees, thanks to our late neighbour, agriculturalist, Mr Hope. We preserved the ancient pomegranate tree that Eusi’s mother had so cherished while planting fruits that our fruit-loving family enjoyed.
We stopped bee-keeping when they began to bother our neighbours and cows when one chased a child.
In that spirit, our nephew, Pat King, was allowed to stay in our flat when Eusi decided not to return home.
Though our belongings were of little material worth, they held important academic value to me and cultural value to us and to many others. Some also saw them as having superstitious meaning, and saw them as idols.
My wood carvings that I brought back from Africa in 1964, were of special importance to me. All except one are of raw, unpolished wood.
Some time ago we got a friend to uplift these carvings from my nephew. And there the mystery began. While awaiting packing for shipping they disappeared, and with the best will in the world no one can account for them.
However, numbers 3 and 7 below were never uplifted by the friend.
Has anyone purchased or seen these items:
- A Bambara head
- A juju mask about the size of three faces
- A very old Yoruba divination carving, flat on top with the characteristic female jutting breasts and short lower body of the woman sitting on her haunches with the hand holding the flat base.
The wood had to be treated before leaving Lagos owing to its age.
- A Senafu one piece carving with the only impression being the characteristic Senafu face and three rings around the middle of the carving
- Another Senafu carving, slim, holds a mask.
- A collapsible Djuka carved seat (given to me by the poet, the late Robin Ravales of Suriname)
- A pair of framed wall paintings of Imanja, the Yoruba goddess, rendered by the late Brazilian artist and culturist, Abdias do Nascimento
- A Guyanese carving marking our marriage with the name ASCRIA. It is the only one of the carvings found.
If you know anything about these carvings or need a photograph of them, please notify me as soon as possible at this address: tkwayana@gmail.com
Yours faithfully,
Tchaiko Kwayana
