NONA, Dennis

It was very, very important for me to see what Haddon [British anthropologist] took back overseas, because I knew that these were lives and that these were our ancestors and their spirits were now housed there.
… My body hairs stood up!
Even though ceremonies have disappeared today, to see these objects, all carved and handmade; it gave me inspiration and the questions to ask the older people back home.
People carve mainly for tourists today, but these objects were actually sung and worn and still contain these memories. I knew I could take the vision of these things and combine it with everything I was being taught back on Badu as a kid and now as an artist looking to keep telling the stories.