THE
UNDENIABLE
ALLURE OF
THE
BEAUTIFUL
II
THE BEAUTY OF GBEMI
SARAKI AND THE
CHALLENGES OF
AESTHETICS : A
TOYIN ADEPOJU
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Gbemi Saraki for being herself and to all who have helped her actualise that beauty that is
so striking .
Thanks to those who responded in disagreement and agreement with my first essay on Gbemi
Saraki. The challenge they provided motivated me to dig deeper in order to respond to them.
The proverb on the elephant is adapted from Wole Soyinka’s Death and the Kings Horseman.
Thanks to Temi Esan, Gbenga Oduntan and Dr. Akin Oyètádé for selflessly making possible the
rendition of the proverb from Soyinka’s English back into the original Yorùbá and doing it at such
short notice.
Thanks to Temi Esan for taking the time to present the first rendering and translation of the Yorùbá
original of the proverb.
Thanks to Gbenga Oduntan for presenting the second translation of the proverb and suggesting how
to apply the diacritic marks to the Yorùbá writing in relation to research on the subject.
Thanks to Dr. Akin Oyètádé, professional scholar in Yorùbá, for giving the full Yorùbá rendering,
with precise diacritic marks, along with a translation, of the proverb earlier provided by Temi Esan
and translated by herself and Gbenga Oduntan.
Dr. Oyètádé graciously provided the following source for his expanded rendering of the proverb:
Bello-Olówóòkéré. 2004. Egbèrún Ìjìnlè Owe Yorùbá àti Ìtumò Won ní Èdè Gèésì: 1000 Yorùbá
Proverbs and their Translations in English. Lagos: Concept Publications Limited. p.26.
On Politics and Physical Beauty in Relation to Gbemi Saraki
I posted on these fora (Blogger, Facebook, Scribd, Listerverves) on 28 April 2011, a very
short essay on on the physical beauty of Gbemi Saraki, a governorship aspirant for Nigeria’s
Kwara State in the 2011 electoral round. The essay focused on the irony of my being
compelled to testify to the radiance of her physical presence even as I understand myself as a
critic of the feudal hold her family
has had on the politics of Kwara State
principally through the influence of
her father, Olusola Saraki.
That
influence
is
ostensibly
weakened by the fact of his son,
Bukola Saraki, the last governor of
Kwara state, having supported a
different candidate than his father for
the just concluded gubernatorial
elections. Bukola Saraki’s candidate
won the gubernatorial seat in
opposition to his sister, Gbemi,whose
candidacy was supported by their
father. Does this development,
however, not suggest the extension
of the feudal influence of Olusula
Saraki as kingmaker in Kwara, in
which he was rountinely described
by himself and others as deciding
who would be governor of the state?
He wasonce quoted as stating in
public that he was looking for
someone to hand over care of the
state to, as if the state were personal
property. Does his son replace him in that capacity?
It was this image that finished me off as far as this woman is concerned! When something unique walks the earth, we must acknowledge it.
How did the adept crowned with the white efflorescence of time put it, drawing on the ancient memory of
"Àjànàkú kojáa "mo rí nnkan fìrí". Bí a bá rí Erin kí á so pé a rí Erin" : An elephant is greater than a flashing glimpse. When one sees an
elephant, you do not say “I saw something pass in a flash”. You must declare “I have glimpsed the tamer of the forest!”. When, billions of
years to come, races far distant from terra firma seek to characterise what is meant by the human race, they will have to resort to images
like this to ascertain the acme of human physicality, the fully bodied beauty that makes life worth living. Just look at those eyes! What does
it mean to be alive, if not to show such a blaze in the faculties of sight, the windows of the soul? The skin, a rich sheen, carefully defined
bones drawing taut the fibres of flesh that shield the human being from the elements. One is almost dumb with wonder. What more is
there to comment on? Is it those lips that by themselves can make a new day look promising? The dome of space between eyes and
headtie that recalls Greek myths about the brow of Zeus, from which the goddess Athena was born? Do we need to comment on the
exquisite dress sense in which a disciplined flow of blue and white enriches the dance of colours that brings her to our eyes? Let me stop
here lest I start to babble. If not, I would be lost in speculations of the symbolism of textiles, the gele as representing the immortal radiance
that defines the soul that sits in the head directing the self, the clothing as evoking the movement of humanity into civilisation, the stars
that adorn ear and chest luminiscent as the star that every human is as one moves into and out of the space between the great darknesses
before and after life on earth. But let us not burden ourselves with these ideas from Yorùbá and Thelemic metaphysics, though beauty and
philosophy walk hand in hand as we show in succeeding installments in this series.
THE CONCEPTUAL WORKSHOP
Concept cloud
Politics; Beauty; feudal hold; 2011 electoral round
Kwara State; Gbemi Saraki; Olusola Saraki; Gbemi Saraki
Ajánákù; earth; adept; efflorescence of time; forest
Bones; fibres of flesh; elements; dome of space; eyes ; headtie
Terra firma; sight; Greek myths; Zeus; Athena; textiles; gele; immortal radiance
Soul; clothing ; humanity; civilisation; stars; ear; chest
Luminiscent; star; human; space; earth; darknesses
Yorùbá; Thelemic; Metaphysics; philosophy
Concept patterns
White efflorescence of time; a flashing glimpse; the tamer of the forest
The fully bodied beauty that makes life worth living; a blaze in the faculties of sight; the
windows of the soul
The skin; a rich sheen; carefully defined bones drawing taut the fibres of flesh
Human physicality; windows of the soul; skin; a rich sheen; acme of human physicality
The dome of space between eyes and headtie; the dance of colours; symbolism of textiles
The immortal radiance that defines the soul that sits in the head directing the self
The movement of humanity into civilisation; the star that every human is
The space between the great darknesses before and after life on earth; Yorùbá and
Thelemic metaphysics; Beauty and philosophy walk hand in hand
Image Credits
Cover image of a sunset from “Sunset”essay on Wikipedia posteed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence .
Gbemi Saraki picture from Gbemi Saraki’s Facebook page
Posted at
The Female Presence
Twitter
Scribd (PDF)
Academia. edu (PDF)
Facebook
Listserves
To Be Continued