Acrylic on Canvas, 72" X 53"

This is a painting of the traditional village of Adjodogou, Togo.  It is a vibrant, functioning community with beautiful farms and a coconut grove.  Reeds are drying along side the adobe compounds.  Afeli, a guardian Legba mound, sits in front of the house.  Before going out to farm for the day, a person would give offerings of corn dough mixed with akpeteshie, the local gin drink, to encourage the Legba to guard and protect the house and its inhabitants from evil.  It is believed that Afeli walks at night and uses the Sengadzi, a metal walking stick with bells that make noise when they hit the ground. 

Many professional people in the larger cities of Ghana and Togo have a village like this to go back to.  Within traditional villages, dance, music and ritual traditions are kept alive.