Maliama’s Ngulogboli, 2022
Baoma, Swamp, Domagbiami, Well, Dovalema, Uncle Dauda’s farm, acrylic, and palm oil on cotton
30 x 39 in.
76.2 x 99.1 cm
In Maliama’s Ngulogboli, Stephanie Lindquist aestheticizes the magnitude of a fixture of West African cuisine: red palm oil. Lindquist captures the palm oil being prepared in a scene that evokes the moment the oil has been added to the soup—when the separate ingredients begin blending together. This moment is a testament to the care that surrounds food. It must first be given to nature's ingredients towards their cultivation, is then extended into the acts of giving and receiving the prepared food, and finally culminates in the nutritional, social, and spiritual nourishment that the food provides.
The versatility of this oil’s use in countless meals is a testament to its capacity to yield an array of flavors depending on its natural state of a simultaneous yellow and red, or its clear state that occurs when fried. Maliama’s Ngulogboli displays the palm oil’s translucency, in this case, due to its exposure to the sun, while maintaining its shine. The texture of the work is attributed to Lindquist’s use of soil—here, from Sierra Leone—in her practice for its capacity to trace origins and lineages that highlight how the earth grounds, bears, and nourishes us.