poem #13 (painting of “The Fortunate Slave”)

Job ben Solomon

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo

There’s this video going round the interwebs

Heralding a painter

Progressive and ahead of the times

Having painted a black Muslim former slave

And not simply painting him

but painting him as a man

versus a humanoid beast

Raise a drink and a rousing round of applause for him 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🥂

this painter ahead of his times

Missing from this video however is context

is a truth in part a lie?

Guess that depends on the speaker

and the receiver

this black Muslim man was rebranded

with names plucked from the Bible

names on the surface better

but really silver plates dangling from an invisible collar

Job - one whose life was stripped away and then restored

ben - the ‘my precious’ son to Israel after his first treasure Joseph had been sold

Solomon - wise and wealthy yet the intermingling of culture and belief was his demise

Yes all these names a tethering

to a reality

which is

if others can label you free

you aren’t

Not truly

New names for a man who isn’t allowed to forget

These names a pat on the back for captors who labeled themselves deliverers

Like people who catch fish and feel good when they toss them back

What’s funny is Ayuba had been

involved with trading slaves (along with paper) before his own capture

And even years after

he returned to the work

So yes he is the first with a portrait painted so pleasantly

Unfortunately

The work says

‘here is one almost like us’

more than

‘here is one with worth in his difference’

consequently

neither the artist or the “fortunate” subject will elicit any praise from me

Breadcrumbs