"Fishrot Aquarium Cleansing"

About this artwork

“FISHROT AQUARIUM CLEANSING” Just like other, I am also inspired by the legends and stories of Mami Wata, as the muse that has also been the spirit in many contemporary artists from Africa, the Caribbean and the diaspora. This artwork of mine titled: “FishRot Aquarium Cleansing” depicts cleansing the the entire Namibian landscape from the international marine resources scandal that went hand in hand with the Covid-19 pandemic as if it is the anger of Mai Wata Spell that fell over the Namibia and the rest of the world. Here all the symbols, signs and images in the artwork explains everything to the viewer. At once beautiful, protective, seductive, and potentially deadly, the water spirit Mami Wata (Mother Water) is celebrated throughout much of Africa and the African Atlantic worlds. Sacred waters bathe the histories of African peoples, sometimes as tears of deep sorrow, sometimes as drops of soothing and cooling liquid sustaining life and hope. Water connects—world with otherworld, life with afterlife—for many African and African Atlantic Peoples. This is the abode of Mami Wata, Simbi, Olokun,Yemoja, La Baleine, La Sirene, Watramama, Maman d'Eau, River Maids, and all the water divinities of Africa and the African Atlantic.Their names are regularly invoked to maintain, refresh, and strengthen the spirit needed to endure the hardships and challenges of lives scattered and shattered by the avarice, arrogance, and brutality of those who would enslave others for their own benefit. Like the unfathomable depths of the world's oceans, the imag(in)ing of Mami Wata and other water deities in Africa and its Diasporas appears limitless. Over a five-hundred-year period, Mami has surfaced in the guise of a mermaid, snake charmer, Hindu god or goddess, and African Catholic saint, as well as other intriguing and magical characters. She has seduced and charmed many, who have given visible form to this spiritual entity as an integral part of the process of self-deiinition, selfrealization, and empowerment in countless cultural worlds over time and space. The unique understandings and involvements of contemporary artists with water spirits also allow them to employ Mami Wata and other underwater denizens to address issues of gender, race, morality, identity, economics, politics, and the environment. She is both a benevolent force for good fortune, health, and endless riches—or is she a jealous force for evil, unleashing trouble and wreaking havoc on those that cross her? LINKS: Please see link based on the African urban legend of Mami Wata, the short-film centers around a group of friends who disappear from a beach party under mysterious circumstances. NKIRU- “A mami wata short film” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58C-e_E85BI Famouse late South African music legend Hugh Masekela also created a song - Mami Wata : https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=oUttjOyX5HE