Saturday, January 1, 2011

African Women: Proverbs, Poetry and Art

In keeping with the spirit of the New Year I decided to go back to my roots for some words of wisdom. Here are some African proverbs , poetry and art about women, friendship and motherhood.


African Friendship Quotes
1. The friends of our friends are our friends. - Congo
2. A friend is someone you share the path with. - African proverb
3. To be without a friend is to be poor indeed. - Tanzania
4. Because friendship is pleasant, we partake of our friend's entertainment; not because we have not enough to eat in our own house. - African proverb
5. Hold a true friend with both hands. - African proverb
6. A friend is someone you share the path with. - African proverb
7. Show me your friend and I will show you your character. - African proverb
8. Sorrow is like a precious treasure, shown only to friends. - African proverb
9. Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you. - African proverb
10. Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough. - African proverb
11. A small house will hold a hundred friends. - African proverb
12. A close friend can become a close enemy. - African proverb
13. Bad friends will prevent you from having good friends. - Gabon
Family Unity: Abstract African Art Painting by Injete
Buy Family Unity African Art Print here

African Mother Quotes
1. The good mother knows what her children will eat. - Akan Proverb
2. Parents give birth to the body of their children, but not always to their characters. - Ganda Proverb
3. Only a mother would carry the child that bites. - Nigerian Proverb
4. Even though the baby monkey appears so ugly it's mother loves it anyway. - African proverb
5. The mother hen does not break its own eggs. - Swahili Saying, Eastern Africa
6. He that has never traveled thinks that his mother is the only good cook in the world. - Kenya
7. Every beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother. - African proverb
8. A child does not laugh at the ugliness of his mother. - African proverb
9. A mother cannot give birth to something bigger than herself. - African Proverb
10. Give birth to children and you will be pregnant with worries. - Namibian Proverb

Sunset Dreams $150 (Free Shipping)
Media: Oil Paint on Metal (8.1 x 11.75 inches) 

   
African Women Quotes
1. If men swear that they want to harm you when you are asleep, you can go to sleep. If women say so, stay awake. - African proverb
2. A woman can hide her love for 40 years, but her disgust and anger not for one day. - Arab Proverb
3. If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation)." - Ghana
4. A home without a woman is like a barn without cattle. - African proverb
5. An old woman  is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb. - African proverb
6. A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it. - Ghana
7. You are beautiful, but learn to work, for you cannot eat your beauty. - Congolese
8. Do not desire a woman with beautiful breasts, if you have no money. - South African

Friends On the Way to the River: $125  
Media: Oil Paint on Metal (9.25 x 13 inches)
Framed and Ready to Hang.

On the way to the river  
African Womens' Poetry by Injete Chesoni
On the way to the river
We stop and catch up
On the latest village gossip
Two sisters, two girlfriends having a chat
We talk of Amadou
And how he has married wife number two
And of Seydou
And how he flew into a rage over
His wife Paige
And her horrendous cooking
He is now thinking about
kicking her out
All over cooking
We chuckle
Maybe we will give her a lesson or two
On how to prepare a meal for two
That’s sure to please and appease her man
Into letting her stay
If she wants to that is
We chat about Mama Lucy
And her cheating ways
Yesterday she was caught
In Chief Malay’s
Boat
In a compromising position
We whisper and blush
At the thought
Wishing we were as daring and free as she
But as for us
We are tied up by the chains of domesticity
And we must return to our chores
Of fetching water
And washing clothes
And all those other never-ending tasks
The daily life of a wife
Interrupted for a moment
As we live other people's lives
In our daily gossip on the way to the river

Posing: Metal Wall Art Nude Painting by Injete
Acrylic Paint on Metal (22 x 25.5 inches Framed with Mat) 
Price: $350 (Free Shipping)

4 comments:

  1. This artwork is so beautiful!!!

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  2. Does the 3/5th painting relate to the remarks from whites about the value of Blacks in this so called USA?

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  3. In a piano, the white and black keys combine to produce a melodious tune. whatever happened, whatever is happening, the joy of art is in the abstract, the intangible. It is futuristic and we hope societies and communities will wonder appreciate that black is also a worthy color, that illuminates and radiates life like the white colors.

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