film

InSouthEastLondon, there exists a legacy of worshippers who follow the doctrines of Celestial Church of Christ. They’re a staple signifier of kinship and survival a mongst the West African born, British identifying communities of the United Kingdom. Though a Christian denomination of worship, it is rooted in the Yorùbá language. My father is a religious leader within the Celestial Church. Being raised and named within an ‘Aladura’ church (as it is also known) in England, there has always existed a generational gap that became exacerbated by the absence of my mother tongue. Though the services, ceremonies and the Holy Bible were all in Yorùbá, it was a language my parents did not speak directly to myself and my younger sister at home they aspired for our English to be “as good as possible” , when in comparison to their own. Through a series of intimate exchanges, Adura Baba Mi exists as an exploration of the strained relationship between metropole and former colony; uncovered are the generational consequences, when cultural histories remain unexplored.