When I entered Charmington’s coffee shop in Remington Nov. 20, Natalie Ibu looked like a lot of the progressive Black women I know and consider allies; with her head wrapped and nose pierced, she rocked a t-shirt emblazoned with the images of iconic Black actresses Janet Hubert and Phylicia Rashad, a.k.a, “Auntie Viv,” and “Claire Huxtable.” So, she appeared to be one of those down Baltimore sisters. However, when Ibu spoke, her rich Scottish brogue revealed another narrative.
Natalie Ibu, artistic director of the Tiata Fahodzi Theatre in London, recently stopped in Baltimore to record stories of people from the African diaspora. Ibu’s four week odyssey also includes: Oslo, Norway, Johannesburg, South Africa, New York and Los Angeles. (Photo Credit: Sean Yoes)
Ibu is artistic director and chief executive of the Tiata Fahodzi Performance Art Theatre in Watford, U.K., just outside of London. The theatre, founded in 1997 is, “Britain’s leading African theatre company, producing world-class theatre that reflects the changing African diaspora in contemporary Britain,” according to its web site.
In the spirit of reporting on the evolving African diaspora, Ibu, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, is traversing (over the course of four weeks) a huge swath of the globe: Oslo, Norway; Johannesburg, South Africa, Los Angeles, New York and Baltimore. During her trip, which is supported by the Arts Council and British Council’s Artist International Development Fund, she is unearthing the stories of artist and non-artist, typically over coffee about, “…what it means to be of the African diaspora, where is home…”
Ibu was brought to Baltimore specifically because of her friendship with Kwame Kwei-Armah, the immensely talented artistic director of Center Stage (a man I dubbed, “Soul Brother Number One,” the first time I met him). Kwei-Armah, who is leaving Center Stage in 2018 for new adventures (a massive loss for Baltimore’s arts community) connected Ibu to me.
I’ve interviewed thousands of people during my career and I’ve been the subject of interviews on several occasions as well. But, I’ve never been asked more holistic questions about where I’m from and how it connects to who I am than during my conversation with Ibu. And it became even more clear to me as we chatted that although I’ve lived in Los Angeles and Detroit, have traveled across more than 30 states and overseas, all that I am is inextricably rooted in West Baltimore.
Of course I have other roots in L.A., Motown, North Carolina, New Orleans, Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Delaware and Pennsylvania. And speaking with Ibu has triggered more urgency to explore how those other roots inform me too. She asks the foundational question: “Where are you a local?” As opposed to simply asking, “Where are you from?” The former forces us to dig deeper.
“As a mixed-race African (I thought it was ½ Nigerian, ¼ Cameroonian, ¼ White British, but ancestry.com had something to say about that), born and bred in Edinburgh in Scotland, educated in East Midlands, working in London and living Hertfordshire, touring work nationally– my own concept of home is a fluid and mobile notion,” Ibu said in her blog that chronicles her travels this month. “In 2014, I moved cities three times for work and didn’t think twice about it. My personal geography spans Nigeria, Cameroon, Edinburgh, Carnoustie, Glasgow, Leicester, Mansfield, Nottingham, Manchester, London, Derby, Watford, Harlem. I would say I’m local in Edinburgh, London, New York and Watford.”
In this time that seems surreal to so many people of color and children of the African diaspora, with White nationalists movements that disparage us (and even want to destroy us) taking hold globally (including America), Ibu’s trip in search of the familiar amongst people of the African diaspora seems particularly ironic to me.
“I think back about the struggles of the past and the progress of the past and think about what guidance we might be able to take from the amazing sacrifices and progress of our brothers and sisters of the past,” Ibu said, reflecting on some of the lessons of her odyssey.
“So I’m hopeful, but I appreciate that I have distance (from that past) on my side.”
Sean Yoes (Courtesy Photo)
Sean Yoes is Baltimore Editor of the AFRO, and host and executive producer of the AFRO First Edition video podcast, which airs Monday and Friday on the AFRO’s Facebook page.
