Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Omoye Uzamere As QUEEN IDIA



Some months ago, some friends and I teamed up for a photoshoot, to share one of the many stories of the Edo people and their (I mean, our *wink*) rich culture with the world. 

We planned for almost a year until one day, we decided, in spite of the absence of red earth, mud huts, soldiers and props, to just do it. You can tell that would have been far more expensive. 

Well, below is the result of my Thespian Muse collaboration with May16th Photography... 


Photo article written by Amah Afadameh... 




This is not a photo of a Nigerian/Edo/Bini bride. 


Today, the Queen Mother plays a significant role in most West African cultures. Before the 15th Century this office didn't exist in most West African Kingdoms. IDIA set the pace.

When Oba Ozolua died he left two powerful sons, Arhuaran and Esigie to dispute succession and compete for the throne.

The ensuing Civil War compromised Benin's status as a regional power and left the kingdom open to attacks from the Igala people who sent their warriors across the Benue river and made war with the Benin Kingdom.

Queen IDIA supported her son Esigie to ultimately defeat his brother, Arhuaran and wrest control of Benin's northern territories from the Igala.


Queen IDIA received credit for these victories as her political counsel, mystical powers and medicinal knowledge were critical elements of Esigie's success on the battlefield.

To honor her, Esigie created a new position within his royal court called 'Iyoba' literally meaning 'Mother of the Oba'. This gave significant privileges including a separate residence with its own staff. 


As Iyoba, Idia and other Queen Mothers were viewed as instrumental to the protection and well-being of the Oba and by extension the kingdom. 



As mother of the King, IDIA and later, Iyobas wielded considerable power. Within the royal court, the Iyoba's political status was equal to that of a senior chief and she enjoyed the right to commission precious works of art for personal and devotional use.

In their honour, Obas also commissioned the carving of Ivory masks or replicas of them. A popular example of one such masks is IDIA mask in the Metropolitan Museums's collection which dates as far back as the 16th Century. 








Once again, this is not your regular Edo/Benin bride. 


This is our first Iyoba - QUEEN IDIA.


Models: @
omoyeuzams @andynwanze

Photo: @amanoshokun for may16thphotography 





Wednesday, July 16, 2014

About Artists


What I love about artists is how we're able to express our passions so unreservedly.
It's how open we are about an idea, a thought, a feeling, an emotion, inspiration... even a phase.
We let it work though us and run its course, understanding that this moment is not all enduring. So, without holding on to it, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable this moment and open to new expressions in the next. It's almost like we take on a new shape, with every "turning of the tides".

This doesn't make us fickle or unstable; rather, it is evidence that we have the key quality everyone needs to live well.... The ability to smell roses.

We may sing in one moment about a broken heart and hating you for lying, cheating or leaving; yet in the next we celebrate beauty, love, life, food and all that jazz....
We paint our pain and passions boldly, blatantly on bare canvass.
We write words we wouldn't whisper to a soul, boldly on paper.
We compose music that you'd gyrate to, make love to, meditate to, cry to or simply bask in.... 



We know that you know that we know the notes of your heart and trust us to translate it to you! The melodies and movement; the tunes and tones, strokes and stress, cuts and chips; the puns and innuendos that speak the love, the joy, the pain, the hurt, the feelings that we're all feeling!
I love artists.


So, today, I celebrate creative geniuses (...or not so genius). Those who bare their souls to...who give themselves over to expressing God's favourite vocation: Creating. 

Cheers to you all, my family!

Omoye Uzams...






Monday, July 14, 2014

Merry Every

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy Easter! And Compliments of every season you've celebrated in the time since I've been in touch. 😊

*Muah*

Omoye 

Friday, March 22, 2013

I'm Not Even Sorry!

Hey guys,

I know, I know, I've been awol for a while.

With all the changes going on in my life and new endeavours.....

I won't say sorry, I'll just strive to be different.

Ever heard the saying, "Don't be sorry, be different!!!"? Well, that's a lesson I want to share today. It's okay to be chastised for doing wrong, it's certainly proper to apologise... but when you're always sorry, it can send the message that you don't care and you're intentionally doing wrong because you can always say "I'm sorry", "Oh! My bad", "Apologies please", "Please don't be mad".

How about we take a moment to stop being sorry, but do differently... I don't mean another wrong o! lol.

Anyways, that's my bit for now. Se e like? (I hope it's that's correct Yoruba?) : -)


Omoye





Monday, October 22, 2012

Hello guys,

Sincere apologies for the long silence. I've been up and down the place. The poem I'm about to share was written two years ago, during rehearsals for Oluronbi. My scene wasn't for a long while and incidentally, inspiration set in. Here goes:



I'm strong enough to look my pain in the eye and take a wise decision.

I'm bold enough to be vulnerable, yet leave my core of steel intact.

I'm wise enough to leave a foolish past for a glorious future.

I'm foolish enough to love till it hurts, yet wise enough to recover and fall back in.

I'm beautiful enough to hope that someone, somewhere will see beyond my foreskin.

I'm sick enough to need healing, yet healed enough to know that I'll be fine again.

I'm young enough to veer off course, chasing my dreams. When or if I do give up, I trust you'll give me a ride back 'home'.

Frail enough are my bones, if broken twice. Frailer still, my heart after each disappointment.

We say, Enough is enough, again and again. Yet we give them a break, time after time.















I'm ambitious enough to want the treasure of my destiny, but patient enough to actually live out that destiny.

I know enough to know that he'll never come back, but Hopeful enough to desire/wish for a miracle.

I'm Pretty enough to draw any man's eyes, but Beautiful enough to search, discover how to keep his heart.

I'm Crazy enough to walk outside butt naked, but not Stupid enough to do it in winter.....

I'm hungry enough to make a compromise, but I'm rich! Rich enough to know I deserve better.

I want you to like me, I'm a conformist. But not enough to do so at the expense of conviction.

I'm proud enough to walk tall and proud, but modest enough to lower my eyes at his gaze.

I must be the person I have never had the courage to be.... Me. Omoyemwense Omoze Osarumwense Uzamere. 

And that is enough.


[THE END]


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

WHAT IS LOVE?


Hey There!
Yeah, yeah, it's been long... lol. I have been up to a bit and I think I'll share that once my writing gets approved by Thespian Muse's quality control department. Right now, I'll just go over the Boss's head and publish a poem I wrote last year. I was feeling lovey dovey, but I've been so confused by this evasive concept of love (not Agape love, that I understand [only a little] better), that I asked myself the age-old question. This was my answer to myself:



WHAT IS LOVE? 

I feel that love is a feeling that you feel when you feel it's impossible to feel good when the person you're feeling feelings for is too far away to feel you up!

Love is feeling for the person you’re feeling feelings for, feelings that don’t feel like feelings you would normally feel for others.

Love is feeling like you don't feel like you have control of your feelings anymore… and those feelings of feeling out of control make you feel like, "Where are the feelings of power and control over my feelings?"

Love is feeling like feeling those feelings I feel I explained will be lasting feelings, so that I'd feel that way for long.

These feelings that I feel, I feel I feel because they're new feelings that I never felt before. I feel I'd like the feeling to be love.... But I'll never know until I feel these feelings infinitely.

I feel like I want to feel love…
That feeling when you feel you’ll never feel loving feelings for anyone else infinitely… 

- Omoye Uzamere, 
Thespian Muse. 




Thursday, February 16, 2012


"I am not proud of the girl that I was. But without being that girl, I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today. So, if it makes any sense to you, I have no regrets" I heard Wendy Williams say these words when she talked about the things that made her feel so strongly connected to Whitney Houston.

Earlier today, I was told by one of my mentors, Femi Odugbemi, “Life can be so harsh that only people who handle it with a lot of optimism can survive it”. Interesting statement, coming from someone who had no idea what I had been going through in my personal life, especially on that day…

Perhaps one day, I will be bold enough to mention some of the things I have had to deal with, for though I do not claim to have been to the ends of travail and back, I have had my wounds which hurt as much as a wound would, whether it was an amputated limb, a (major or minor) surgery, a broken leg or a razor blade cut. Pain is pain. Each person must deal with their pain, help others cope with theirs or just stfu!

I have just emerged from a series of minor battles, all with a culminating result in failure. Then I remember, it was I who set the ball rolling, who started the entire process that got me right where I am now. Do you now understand why many insist, “your destiny is in your hands”? I think of all the time and effort put into that struggle, only to be cut off in one action by a person who has no understanding of your personal situation, but simply has the power to make or break you, your status….perhaps, even your life. It just depends on how you see the glass.

It feels like a woman who spent a difficult 9 months carrying the baby who died at birth; like the man who showed up on the first day of his dream job only to find the had company folded up. But it isn’t any of these, so what it really feels like is a knife to your chest; a hole carved out, gnawing and nagging at you, telling you it was all your fault, asking you to regret, reminding you that it only took a left (or right) turn for your life to change in such a spiral fashion. Have you ever tried to untangle a telephone cable? #Selah.

I have come to the end of my struggle with this reality, almost as quickly as it has hit me, head-on. In part, because I remember telling people “I’ve made my decision, I’ll stick with it and I’ll live with the consequences, no matter what. No regrets”, in part, because there is no other way to go and thirdly, because I am a believer and because I trust that there is much more that’s waiting ahead of me than lies behind. Being the stubborn ass that I am, I can continue fighting and cause more pain to everyone, including myself, or I can walk away with my scars. Wasn’t it I who said, “my scars make me beautiful”?? Wasn’t I the one who vowed that our victories were manifested in our “trophies of war”? Now, I’m not so sure. Why?

In truth, I am a believer; a firm believer in myself; a woman who, today knows that my life is what I make of it. If I must make anything of the rest of my life, I must learn from my past. I must carry my badge; wear it proudly until I graduate to the next level.

A few years ago, I bought a journal (one of my favourite things to collect) called “Becoming…” I was proud of it, encouraged by the promise in its message to me. Today, I am still inspired by it, simply by looking back to see my growth as a person, as a woman.

I have hurt a number of people in my “becoming” and it doesn’t matter whether it was deliberate, the deed was done. So because this blog is about getting closure, without further ado, I do hereby most sincerely apologise to everyone I have ever hurt, from the bottom of my heart. There are a number of specific people I will not deign to mention because of the nature of this writ.

At this point, I am simply grateful for my “becoming” process; simply glad that I can learn and grow from my mistakes and experiences, towards becoming a better woman. I am glad that I have grown from being a rash little girl who had no idea what she wanted to do with her life, to a woman who is making and loving her self-discovery, who is hardworking and determined; a woman who (against the odds) still believes in love and who loves the Lord.

Today and at this very moment, I am hurting from fresh (and even stale) wounds that are concealed by my widely acclaimed smile, but I will heal and then be able to show off my scars, victoriously. I am confident that no matter how many winding paths we encounter, we shall arrive at the predestined destination!

Therefore, my testimony too becomes, "I am not proud of the girl that I was. But without being that girl, I would not be the woman that I am today." Lord, I am thankful for every mistake I have made, every wrong turn, every foul error and misdeed. I am thankful for every time I stayed true to my convictions, no matter how difficult and lonely that route was. Through it all, you have shaped me to(wards) my BECOMING.

Tonight, I stand pure, by God's grace alone, saying boldly, "I have no regrets".

- Omoye BROWNIE Uzamere.

Thespian Muse