Blessed Melanin, God-sculpted Blackness
protection, deflection, yet visual invitation
I see you, you see me
Through a mesh, through a lens
Dark eyes, full of light
Dark nose, inhaling light air
Dark mouth, rounded contours
closed but poised for action:
sonic, verbal, culinary, breath
Facial shield sieves youthful repose,
hearing quietly, seeing intently
Virgin knowledge steadily forming,
forging wisdom’s foundations
Bare shoulder’s twin sibling,
wrapped with black and white formations
floating into flowing folds
My Yorùbá eyes say àǹkàrá,
Bamako lips likely say bogolan
magnetic material hugging seated legs
Masked self-determination: decolonisation
Global majority in comforting homegrown context
not neocolonial, Eurocentric, western threads
Cloth of your cloth, fibre of your tapestry
Hands resting on settled knees,
fingers exchanging relaxed warmth
Your regal throne a naked frame,
Unburdened skeleton supporting perfect posture
Demonstrating strength in simplicity
Guided by Timbuktu, Djenne Mosque, 750,000 scrolls
A thousand lifetimes, millennia of learnings
from your parents’ parents’ ancestors
You carry this confidence of guided expectation
Stance static, yet soul dynamic with intention
The mask, a crown, a signaller,
Profoundly rooted for branched conversation
I see you, you see me
Through a mesh, through a lens
Context: During the June 2025 Africa-Asia 3 ConFest in Dakar, Senegal, after presenting my research, I stumbled on Gina Osterloh’s poetry workshop ‘Reading Images: Representations of Self - Past, Present, Future’. I felt deeply inspired by the visual prompts around the event space, including one by talented photographer Fatoumata Diabaté. Part of her ‘l’homme-en-objet’ reel, the photo opened the ‘Through the lens’ chapter/article appearing in the Summer 2017 issue of Aperture. The image stirred me to write my first creative piece of the year. So my thanks to:
- Fatoumata as my source inspiration, and
- Gina as my inspiration facilitator 😊
Fatoumata Diabaté info:
Email: diabatefat@gmail.com
IG: @fdiabate
Gina Osterloh info:
Email: ginaosterloh@gmail.com
IG: @ginaosterloh
