Osogbo, 2025
Duration: 16:52 minutes, loop
Osogbo accompanies the installation of The Rebels of Breadnut Island Pen. It emerges from a field recording made during a sacred ceremony at the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove in Nigeria in 2023. Rooted in Yoruba spiritual traditions, the recording forms the foundation of an immersive sonic environment that reinforces the imagined lives of Phibbah and Molia. It makes room for what exceeds the fictional narratives within the artwork, foregrounding solidarity, love, ritual, and Black joy as ways of reimagining the women's lives beyond the violence documented in Thistlewood’s accounts.
Commissioned by Firstsite as part of the solo exhibition It Should Not Be Forgotten, 2025. Funded by Arts Council England, Firstsite and Trevor Fenwick. With support from the Royal College of Art.
Credits: Conceived by Elsa James; Designed and shaped by Trevor Mathison; Installation photos: Richard Ivey
Elsa James © 2026. All Rights Reserved.