Adama Delphine Fawundu
Ancestral Songs III
CNC Woodcut
22 1/4 x 28 1/2 inches
Edition of 30
Published by Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia.
From the Artist
Ancestral Songs is about honoring the power in ancestral memory and the rich intelligence found in indigenous African cosmologies. I am particularly interested in my heritage—Mende, Bubi, Bamileke, Krim—and the possibilities of Yoruba. I am also deeply inspired by Dogon and Kemetic cosmologies. I think about the spiritual conversation that I often have with my Grandma Adama as symbolic. At times, I am her, as she continues to see through my eyes, the daughter of her first son. As the only child in my immediate family born in the United States, cost, distance, and a horrific civil war only allowed me to meet with my grandmother twice in my life, once at age fourand then again at 20. Although our physical bodies have only shared space on this earth for 23 years, our spirits have always been intertwined. As a child I was obsessed with photographs of her, I am Mama Adama’s namesake. I was also intrigued by the beautiful hand-dyed and batik garra fabrics that she made. Whether it was a window curtain, a tablecloth, pillow covers, clothing, or yards of fabric, my home was always filled with these gifts of textiles uniquely designed by Mama Adama’s hands. My grandmother’s Garra business was prominent in Pujehun, Sierra Leone, from the '50s up until the harsh civil war in the early '90s.
With this series, I collaged her fabrics, photographs of the Mano River (alongside Krim and Mende land) cowrie shells, Sande masks (Mende Culture), and my head (symbolic of my Ori, personal ancestral guide) to create new designs inspired by Grandma Adama’s original pieces.Inspired by the layered nature of the Garra fabrics, I designed the woodblocks.
As this series was made in collaboration with Brandywine Workshop and Archives, it was a pleasure to work with the incredible printer, Alexis Nutini, who created the woodblocks and prints using a CNC router. So much of this work is about creating new patterns and new languages while activating my body and ancestral memory. My process included allowing my body to move intuitively as it performed and made gestures through the making. While making this work, I thoughtabout the complex nature of identity, as well as the multilayered connection between Africa and its Diaspora. I also think about the need to learn from indigenous intelligence as we think about creating peaceful and equitable futures while living in tune with our earth and universe.
—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records
