Twin Seven-Seven’s painting “The Fisherman and the River Goddess with his Captured Multi-Colored Fishes and the River Night Guard” explores the connection between spirit and body and how the simultaneous movement and unity between these two modes of being shape identity.
The river goddess depicted by Twin Seven-Seven originates from Mami Wata, a prominent African water spirit who “embod[ies] hybridity, transactions of every kind, and constant innovation” (Drewal 9). Although Mami’s image is deeply ingrained in African culture, her true identity is both foreign and indigenous” (Drewel 10): because representations are modeled after models of her, it is difficult for the viewers to know which versions authentically align with her true identity.
The river goddess in Seven-Seven’s piece is one such variation of Mami Wata known as Oshun (Drewel, 2008). As the goddess of cool waters, she “straddle[s] the landscape of the Yoruba landscape” (Drewel 179). Since Twin Seven-Seven grew up immersed in Yoruba’s culture, it is fitting that he should reference this specific variation of the river goddess in his work. Yoruban tradition views “the cosmos as consisting of two distinct yet inseparable realms – aye (the visible, tangible world of the living) and orun (the invisible, spiritual realm of the ancestors, gods, and spirits)” (Gikandi 68). This attention to the connection between spiritual and worldly reflects major themes in Twin Seven-Seven’s work.
First, the relationship between the figures in the piece embodies this Yoruban teaching. Though the viewers know from the caption inscribed on the boat that the three figures include a guard, fisherman, and river goddess, distinguishing the mystical goddess from the human figures proves difficult because Twin Seven-Seven paints them all in the same style with similar physical features. This lack of distinction between the figures and consequent ambiguity creates a harmony between the spiritual and worldly. While Oshun’s divine identity is obscured by human interpretation, the fisherman’s ability is supported by divine interventions. However, upon closer investigation, the viewers may eventually notice some cues that reveal the figure on the far right as the river goddess. Indeed, this figure has physical features usually associated with water spirits: wild braids and a mermaid tale that camouflages itself with those of the other fish. The way the faces of the fisherman and Ushun are touching intimately conveys the intimate connection between the two domains.
Second, the contrasting materials Twin Seven-Seven reinforces connections between divine and worldly beings. By layering ink and pastel, Twin-Seven allows inherently different mediums to merge together in order to create a cohesive composition and experience for the viewer. Ink, on one hand, is a permanent, richly dark medium that by outlining forms commands a sense of presence like the physical world. On the other hand, pastels’ soft yet vibrant colors blur and smudge away like an ephemeral spirit. By balancing these two mediums so that neither the pastel’s hues nor the ink’s bold lines overpower one another, Twin Seven-Seven emphasizes that the best expression of identity is deeply connected to both the aye and orun (Gikandi 68).
While much of Twin Seven-Seven’s style developed from his personal immersion in Yoruban culture, he also learned to artistically express his identity through workshops with international artists. During the 1960s, artists from across the ocean came to Oshogbo to help Nigerians develop confidence in their own personal artistic abilities (“Currents”). That African artists like Twin Seven-Seven learned to expressively share themselves through art parallels the Great Migration and African American cultural revitalization that occurred in Harlem. This connection is reinforced by the fact that one of the workshop leaders was Jacob Lawrence, a successful painter and printmaker of the Harlem Renaissance (“Currents”). Lawrence’s personal migration to Africa provides an interesting situation: he brought the influences of African American culture so the Nigerians who actually lived in Africa could also express their personal African identities. In some ways, this seems to call to mind the United Negro Improvement Association Philosophy in that those of African descent were united and committed to supporting one another. However, these artist workshops were based on self-sufficiency rather than recolonization of Africa. Not only did cultural influences extend overseas–like Lawrence, Twin Seven-Seven worked in an expressive style that simplified and flattened the composition in order to highlight the emotional experiences of the viewer–but the Nigerian artists learned to express their own personal heritage.
The boat, as a mode of transportation, symbolizes movement and migration. Furthermore, because the boat occupies a central place in the composition, its influence on shaping the identity of the figures is also emphasized. Like the figures and material elements in the work, the boat has two components of its identity–literal and metaphorical–that reinforces the intertwined spiritual and physical identity. On a physical level, the boat is used for necessary daily migrations, including the forced movement of fish. The boat functions as a container like the black ink outlines forms in the painting. However, the symbolic irony of this boat is evident by unnaturally small body of water it occupies. In the same way that the boat contains the fish and figures, the water contains the boat, inhibiting progress forward. The symmetry and similar size of the shore and boat bottom emphasize that although ideas and cultures move and life is composed of a series of migrations necessary for survival, true personal identity can only be expressed when stability is established: a sense of being that unites the aye and orun of life.
— Karen Fleming and Casey Murano