"Out of Her Gourds She Tells Stories"

"Out of Her Gourds She Tells Stories" Artist: Michele Tejuola Turner, The Art of African/American Food ways

“I first encountered gourds moving to Atlanta in 1979 when I became more aware of my African history and noticed that the gourd was always around in some form. A friend of mine made shekeres, a beaded gourd used as a musical instrument. He would carve the neck of the gourd before stringing the beads onto the base. During the same period of time I saw two West African kora players performing in Atlanta. The kora is a beautiful instrument made from a gourd. I was also becoming more aware of gourds from different parts of Africa that were beautifully carved, painted and burned. These encounters sparked my interest and in 1986, several years after moving to Atlanta, I began documenting myths and folktales onto gourds by engraving and painting them. I never imagined that in 2009 I would still be using the gourd to tell all types of stories about my life and the life of others. Whenever possible I try very hard to purchase gourds from Nigeria because I have found them to have the absolute best quality, very thick, large, and simply beautiful. Another source that I rely on is in Georgia at a huge gourd farm. Driving up to road to the farm, seeing the piles and piles of gourds on palettes always brings a huge smile to my face!”

The Tasting Cultures Foundation and The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture curated a show entitled "The Art of African/American Foodways" with the support of The College of Charleston/Society of Economic Botany 50th year Celebration, June 2009. To highlight the artists in the exhibit for those who could not attend the conference or visit Charleston last year, TCF periodically presents an artist and her/his work. This is the fifth installment and we are featuring Michele Tejuola Turner.