Elizabeth Seyi
University/School: Nottingham Trent University
Location: Derby, United Kingdom
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aicha_seyi/
About me
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About me _____
Growing up, I noticed that my father would have a locked cupboard in his bedroom, one that I had never seen the contents of. It wasn't until one day when he left his bedroom door open, that I snuck in to find the mysterious drawer open. Inside, I found dried items, at the time I wasn’t sure if they were plants or animals, but this memory has stayed with me for years.
Eventually, I lost contact with my father and later learned how practising Voodoo was commonplace in Togo but was looked at negatively by those who do not practise it. .This got me asking myself whether the people practising Voodoo were bad or whether it was this evil thing the West made it seem.
Inspiration
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Inspiration _____
That’s when I produced my graduate collection ‘Zangbeto’, which translates to “People of the Night”.
Zangbeto is a pan-African contemporary take on voodoo traditions found in Togo, Ghana and Benin. It explores the energetic essence of West African voodoo using avant-garde forms. Through my project ‘Zangbeto’, I set out to make my viewers revaluate what they regard as Voodoo, in contrast to Hollywood and post-colonial education. I hope to encourage my viewers to see past the idea of ‘one type of blackness’ and as I have, appreciate the many different variations of beauty found in different black traditions.
My work
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My work _____
