Can we all take a moment to soak in the phenomenon that is Titilope Sonuga Like brittle paper puts it, Titilope is a “remarkable discovery.” Although right now, we do believe she is more a “force” than a “discovery” but very remarkable nonetheless. Recently, we stumbled dug up a performance she gave four years ago. It was a TedX speech actually, or what was supposed to be speech. We all know Titilope doesn’t give speeches, she performs words. She wields words like a skilled artisan wades a tool. The speech titled “Speaking Into the Void” was given at TedX Edmonton in June of 2014 and it was a combination of what we term “brave vulnerability”, candor, depth and humor.
Titilope really and truly is a gift and like she puts it in that TedX speech “I am certain for certain that this is my life’s work; to perform words, to share my stories.” You really should watch the video.
Ten lessons we took out from the speech are listed below.
- There is no failure in falling.
- Those who carry the light have no failure in darkness.
- You do not need eyes for the things that the heart can already see.
- Silence can be a kind of suffering
- Laughter is the gateway to forgiveness
- Some roads reach to nowhere but nowhere is still a place.
- Sometimes, what we are looking for is not what we found but it is okay to find new things.
- Believe in second chances but also understand that a mistake can disguise itself as a new beginning; hence, it is okay to let go.
- There are are different types of hunger. An empty heart is synonymous to an empty belly and sometimes what we cannot speak is exactly what we are trying to say.
- A home is not always where the heart is, a home is a place we make memories out of.
Asides, poetry, Titilope is an author and actress. Her first spoken word album “Mother Tongue” was released in 2013 and her second collection “Abscess” released in 2014. She has won the Canadian Authors’ Association Emerging Author Award for her first collection of poems “Down To Earth.” She has also won the RISE award for achievement in the arts and National Coalition of Canada Fil Fraser Award (2014).
She is the creator of Rogue poetry, a weekly open mic poetry night that has featured local and international poets and musicians for close to a decade. As an actress, she starred as “Eki” in Ndani TV series “Gidi Up”. Prior to going into the arts fully, Titilope was a Civil Engineer.
Another video, you should consider watching is “A Woman Is Not Your Mother”.
