Author: Toyin Ojih Odutola, Contributions by Zadie Smith and Leigh Raiford and Osman Can Yerebakan and Amber Jamillah Musser

Publisher: Rizzoli Electa

Toyin Ojih Odutola’s book chronicles the private lives of two fictional aristocratic Nigerian families, the UmuEze Amara Clan and the House of Obafemi, if colonialist and slave-trade interventions had never disrupted the country. The artist’s drawings in charcoal, pastel, and pencil, are set against the artist’s larger conceived narrative, highlighting the malleability of identity and assumptions about race, wealth, and class. Also included are several insightful essays on the artist herself by noted writers and critics Zadie Smith, Leigh Raiford, and others.

I acquired the essay texts and permission to use them from the authors. The book was published in October 2021.