THE GAMBIA

Walsworth Pub Co (June 29, 2007)
ISBN-13: 978-1578640669

By Momodou Ceesay

In this book, the protagonist Issa Kujabi seeks an audience with God, in order to lament on the condition of African people today. The book speaks of social injustice; the cold-heartedness of the ruling elite in Africa; and the phenomena of Africa s demise, but done with poetry and art. Two distinct expressions of creativity are combined to put forth a powerful and moving story; a story of an African man s spiritual journey. The work uses excerpts from Hebrew Scripture and the Koran to describe the searching for a better life for African and African American people. Momodou Ceesay adds to the virtual reality of the story line by delineating the poem with 36 of his original paintings. Through a dialogue , the poem begins with the particular destruction, genocide and suffering of African people and of their descendants in the Diaspora. The scope is then widened to include the negative forces that seem to grip the planet as a whole. It moves from despair to vision as the dialogue progresses, ending with a revelation giving reasons for suffering and what the future holds for Africa and the world as a whole.

About the Author

Momodou Ceesay was born in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, in West Africa, in 1945. His early education was received in Banjul, but in his teens he was granted a number of scholarships to study abroad, at Suffield Academy and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In 1970, he received a Bachelor's Degree from that University, having majored in languages and literature. He has also received diplomas from the University de Poitiers in Tours, and La Sorbonne in Paris, both in France, for studies of the French language. After these academic pursuits, Ceesay decided to pursue a career in art. Essentially self-taught, the artist was able to, from the beginning, bring forth a highly individualist vision, as seen in the uniqueness of his style and use of colors. This trend is seen in his numerous acrylics, watercolors, and serigraphs. Ceesay has exhibited extensively, and is in major public and private collections around the world. In the United States, his works are well known through the Heritage Collection card series.