My father’s fence

December 24, 2016 1:11 PM

It has often been said that when an Igbo man’s wife makes a request of him, he will move mountains to achieve it. Thus it was that when my mother, who lost her father, and some of her brothers, on the same, rainy day, in October 1967, asked my dad to do a memorial to them, he obliged, and did the memorial on his fence. The pix you’ll see next are the result, and I’ll do a sort of story guide…

posted by infini (10 comments total)

That is an amazing fence.
posted by shoesietart at 3:00 PM on December 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

Wow. Not just a memorial - a full-on history lesson.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:21 PM on December 24, 2016

That is a gorgeous fence and an amazing tribute. My one tiny gripe is that the pics weren't taken at the opposite time of day so the light would have been shinning on the walls not silhouetting them.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:34 PM on December 24, 2016 [6 favorites]

It ends "don't try to muzzle me". Who would be trying to muzzle him? I don't doubt that someone is, but the history lesson in tragedy is incomplete...
posted by brambleboy at 4:00 PM on December 24, 2016

Holy shit. That fence belongs in a museum. I wish the pictures were better, but it is every bit as good, in its way, as the St. Gaudens Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment.
posted by beagle at 4:15 PM on December 24, 2016 [4 favorites]

It's amazing what powerful art can be built from horror. Amazing and heartbreaking.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:49 PM on December 24, 2016

Amazing and moving.
posted by Splunge at 6:01 PM on December 24, 2016

I'm assuming the muzzling comment refers to the current reign of Buhari, a strict military leader?
posted by gusandrews at 6:50 PM on December 24, 2016

I am in awe of the power in some people. To carry on, to create, to survive.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:28 PM on December 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

I believe that, yes, the muzzling is in reference to local politics. The Nigerian Civil War was horrific - but there may be denial of some of the atrocities, like this massacre.
posted by jb at 6:05 AM on December 25, 2016 [1 favorite]