Nigeria

An article memorializing Prince Twins Seven-Seven, who spent time as Artist in Residence at Material Culture and passed away last June, appears in the spring 2012 issue of African Arts. We received permission from the author, Henry Glassie, to post it here to commemorate the anniversary of his death. A pdf of the full text, complete with original photos, is also available online. In Memoriam: Prince Twins Seven-Seven 1944–2011 by Henry Glassie To begin at the end is to begin in sorrow. Prince Twins Seven-Seven died in Ibadan on the morning of June 16, 2011. For seventy-two days he lay in the hospital, unable to move, communicating only by blinking his eyes. It was reported as a stroke, but whatever the cause, it was wrong—the wrong end for an ebullient man of constant action whose body was charged to the full. He beat rhythms on trees in childhood, danced on the road in youth; he whistled and sang while his hand darted and glanced, filling spontaneous shapes with intricate patterns bound for infinity. Prince was born on May 3, 1944, in Ijara, near the northeastern edge of Yorubaland. His father, Aitoyeje, was a Muslim from Ibadan. His mother, Mary, was a [...]