LISTEN TO EPISODE HERE:
Audio Script:
Greetings, Bonjour and wha gwan everybody - today, we are speaking about going places through the imagination, and so essentially I wanted to share with you a story that was told to me, and it comes through very various iterations from the ways of West Africa to Jamaica, (from) to me, to you. It's about Anansi, the spider, the trickster, the teacher, the arrogant one, and how wisdom came to the world and is never found in one place. It was told to me by my grandfather, Rupert Antonio "Jeepaz" Lindsay (1920 - 2006); everyone just called him Jeepaz or Tony. I remember being a young teen sitting before him and looking up and looking into his mouth. He would have the deep belly laugh anytime he tells me Anansi's stories, as it felt like it was tickling his mind and that the sensation was travelling all over his body.
I could see his gold tooth in his mouth and his pearly white teeth and how his goatee would line perfectly around his smile, down the edge of his mouth, across the terrains of his cheek, under the ocean of his chin and just tickling above the mountain range of his Adam's apple. And (I would admire) how his curly (haired) Afro, which was like white sheep wool, would sway, back and forth as his head rocked back, "Anansi!" He would say:
"Back When Jamaican people didn't know much because all their memory and everything that they can remember was stored in a pot owned by Nyame, the keeper of the sky. Anansi, who was always seeking to obtain power, went to pay Nyame a visit to learn what Nyame's secrets were. Nyame told Anansi, "It is because I saw everything for a very long time. And I collected that which I saw. And I started into this pot, which allows me to know everything. And I collected all the people's memory and stored it in this pot, allowing me to understand everything. And this is why I'm so powerful, Anansi".
Anansi looked at this pot with lust and envy and plotted that night when Nyame goes to sleep and the ruler of the night is at guard, Anansi will steal this pot and received the power of knowledge and wisdom. And so, Anansi did just that, using a web to steal the pot and lure it over to where Anansi was. Anansi then climbed down from the sky and went down towards the earth. As Anansi doing so, Anansi felt the shifting of the pot's lid, and wisdom was slipping out like "one-one coco can fill basket" and "every mickle, makes a muckle," and other things were slipping out. Anansi's children could see Anansi struggling, and so Anansi's son said, "Anansi tie the pot under your arm to secure the lid. And so you can hold on to all the knowledge and wisdom!" Anansi said, kissing his teeth, "How dare my child, tell me what to do! You don't know anything about anything! It is me who has all the knowledge and wisdom; how can I listen to them?"
As Anansi was still struggling to carry the pot of knowledge and wisdom, Anansi's daughter said, "Anansi! Maybe you should tie the pot to your waist, and it will be easier for you to climb faster before Nyame wakes up!" Anansi kissed his teeth (again), "What is wrong with her? How dare she give me, I and I, Anansi advice about anything, when I have all the knowledge and wisdom in the world! How dare they tell me what to do?".
But eventually, Anansi was getting tired. And so both of his children said, "Anansi! Tie the pot to your back. It will be easier for you to climb and make it down!". Anansi, in frustration, yelled, "You all stop telling me what to do!" But Anansi was getting tired and said to himself, "Well, maybe, let me tie this pot under my arm and see what happens because if they are wrong, then I can just switch it back and carry it?". And so Nancy shifted the pot under the arm and realized how much easier it was.
And so Nancy said to himself, "well, maybe I should tie it to my waist like my daughter said and see how it goes and if it don't work out, then it is not me that's the fool, it's them that are the fools!". And so, Anansi did just that realizing, "Oh, it's actually a lot more easier! The weight was counterbalanced - and - Oh, okay, well, maybe I should tie it to my back? And if it doesn't work out, then it is not me who is the fool; it is them that are the fools! As I have all the knowledge and wisdom!". And so Nancy did just that and was shocked and angered that the children were right. Anansi then said to himself, "But, wait! Isn't me, I and I, Anansi, the one with all the knowledge and wisdom in the world! How can my children be wiser than me and give me advice?!" Anansi was getting so vexed and was having a fit to the point that Anansi took the pot off his back and threw it towards his children, who moved out of the way just in time.
The pot went smashing down to the earth, and then it flew in all directions - East, West, North, South up, down left, right, all over the place. And this is how wisdom and knowledge were spread throughout the earth again, and this is why no one person can know everything, which is why wisdom is never found all in one place or in one experience. Because it was Anansi who did it that way. With that story, I think about Afrofuturism... I think of all the knowledge and wisdom of ancient African civilizations, ancient African peoples and histories and her-stories, and all of the things entering into a capsule of some sort tickling, the minds of creatives. As essentially, Afrofuturism is almost that pot of Anansi. I say this because when I look at Afrofuturist's works people like Komi Olaf, like Wangechi Mutu, like Stacy Robinson, like Maliciouz, like Kalkidan Assefa, and Kapwani Kiwanga; it is essentially the knowledge of people from the past and present being built upon. Very much like how Anansi's children, despite not having access to the pot, through Anansi, they were wise. So I essentially see Afrofuturists and Afrofuturism being the stories built upon previous stories as told by Anansi's children.
And so I think about all the places that the imagination can go. When we think about ancient Abyssinia-Axum (Modern Day Ethiopia), ancient Congo, ancient Timbuktu (Modern day Mali and Senegal), and how that makes a Wakanda or how that can make a Zamunda. I think about all the places that my mind goes to when we create our own stories, but then also try to create them in real life; this ideal Afro-topias - or utopia is in a way. And so I wonder, what are the stories you were told that make your mind go places? As an artist, for me, I'm constantly trying to tell new stories built on the stories that I was told, the stories that I learned about through research. And I try to make these stories as relatable to my reality and those I consider to be my peers in a way. So I use Toronto lingo or Montreal lingo, you know "Joual" in there, here and there. I think about how my grandfather's stories resonated with me because he spoke to me in a language that I understood. And now (hoping) to be a father one day (I think of) how I would tell those stories to my children in a language and in a way that they will understand.
And I think this is Afrofuturism. It's about going places with imagination, with an Afrocentric lens.
My (Afrofuturistic and Afrosurrealism) work then looks at how we preserve these memories, these stories, and these ideas for the next generation, just like how my grandfather instilled so many Anansi stories within me. I think about how do I instill the imagination and the possibility for your mind to take you places that your body may not physically be able to get to. And that's what my work essentially is about, but then I take it a step further by critiquing and challenging and confronting in a lot of ways, the memories that exist right now in the public spaces. In a lot of ways, my work is Anansi. You know, it is shattering and spreading wisdom in many places to many people, and it's also taking knowledge and wisdom.
About Quentin VerCetty Lindsay:
Quentin VerCetty Lindsay is an award-winning, multidisciplinary visual griot, artpreneur, art educator, activist, and an ever-growing interstellar tree. As one of the world's leading Afrofuturists, his scholarly work explores Afrofuturism as a teaching tool and has coined the terms Sankofanology and Rastafuturism. His visual and poetic works explore ideas around social issues and the future memories of people of African descent through monuments, and Blackness in futuristic public spaces. VerCetty's is one of the founding members of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM) and started the BSAM Canada Institute to help improve the art industry for artists of colour in the creative industry of Canada. VerCetty is the co-editor of the first Canadian Afrofuturism art anthology, Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Speculative Discourse and Innerstandings (2020 - in press), which highlights works from over 100 Black Canadian artists and documents the growing contemporary art movement of Afrofuturism. Through his work, he hopes to engage minds and inspire hearts to help to make the world a better place not only for today but for many tomorrows to come.
