African societies built memory so deliberately that no one could erase it. By Oriiz U Onuwaje Oriiz shows us how African societies deliberately built memory right into their surroundings. They used design thinking as a way to survive, weaving authority, lineage and continuity into bronze, ivory and wood. What we now admire as art started […]
By Oriiz U Onuwaje Oriiz presents Rhythm as a means of keeping traditions alive, showing how people remember and share what they cannot easily put into writing. Across Africa, rhythm acts as an archive, a form of governance, and a social bond, carrying memory in a way everyone can access, repeat, and protect. Rhythm is […]
By Oriiz U Onuwaje Oriiz presents a simple truth for today: rhythm is evidence. Rhythm preserves a people’s story, reveals intelligence, and brings order. The beat is more than music for dancing; it captures life itself. Dance does more than entertain; it bears witness. Before museums and libraries, Africans kept their heritage alive by repeating […]
By Oriiz U Onuwaje Oriiz writes that our sound is a tool for ‘community connection‘ that endured silence to become a global roar. When you hear @temsbaby’s soul or @ayrastarr’s confidence, you are hearing centuries of resilience repackaged for the future. Introduction: The Architecture of Memory Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938 – 1997) Sound is Africa’s […]
Originally featured on The Sun The Harbinger: A window into the soul of a people: 8,000 Years of Art in Nigeria, reminds readers of a truth often ignored in mainstream narratives, Nigerian art did not begin with colonial contact nor did it pause because of it. Instead, it has continued, quietly, defiantly, intelligently, across centuries. […]
Originally featured on The New Telegraphng There’s something quite audacious about THE HARBINGER”, a landmark four part book series written by Oriiz U. Onuwaje. This book is not just about documenting 8,000 years of Nigerian art history, a window into the soul of a people; it aims to reframe the nation’s art as single, continuous, […]
Originally featured on The Art Hub In The Harbinger (Crimson Fusion, Lagos; 2025), Oriiz U. Onuwaje challenges the long-standing notion that African artistic genius is accidental or fragmented. Instead, the book argues for African art as the product of a continuous and deliberate intellectual tradition stretching across millennia. Drawing on examples such as the Benin […]
The Harbinger is the first of four messengers, announcing an 8000-year revelation.
Through charged ideas, sharpened memory, and stunning images that anchor our heritage, it prepares the mind for the scale, the weight, and the intelligence of what is coming.
