Alama's Africa - What does the beauty of dawn feel like?

Experience the beauty of dawn on the African savanna. The orange-red dawn sky illuminates the landscape and the acacia trees in Alama’s Africa. Alone under the beauty of the dawn sky Alama is engulfed by the glorious sounds and sights of nature. 

There are many East African animals in this video. From left to right you see the stripped hyena lurking behind the tree, Maasai giraffes, wart hogs, black headed weaver birds, Impala, plains zebra, the blue-red kokoloko bird (roller bird), Gernuk and African wild dogs. 

The animals and landscapes are from the graphic novel “Alama’s Walk, Healing the Earth.” In the graphic novel, I worked to see with Alama’s eyes and weave nature into the illustrations as he walked the country. There is one similar landscape spread in the graphic novel, which inspired me to bring this scene to life. 

I hope you enjoy this video, I certainly did. Your comments are appreciated as I experiment with this 3D digital medium. Not quite Disney or Pixar quality, but for a team of one, tools like Mental Canvas and Procreate help me explore and create stories in a whole new way. Thank you and Asante for watching. 

Dr. Somjee featured on the Violence Transformed website

"This is the first of two linked exhibitions that share some of the wisdom Dr. Somjee has accrued through four decades of work living with, and curating the material cultures, stories and rituals, of indigenous communities in East Africa. ....We have selected a sampling of illustrations from the first two books for this exhibit, organized into groupings representative of some key themes in the original novel: storytelling; healing the earth; beauty in material culture; the walking sticks; peace animals; peace drawn from the greeting of dawn, walking as a transformative ritual; peace is sharing with strangers and the enemy." 

The above are a few lines from the curator's statement, Dr. Shirland, Associate Professor of Art History at Brigewater State University & Violence Transformed Advisory Board Member.  See the full exhibition on  ViolenceTransformed.com . The picture is from the documentary on Peace Trees by Bruno Sorrentino and the illustrations are from the graphic novel Alama's Walk: The Oracle Speaks and Alama's Walk: Healing the Earth. 

Aba Yusufu character design from "Alama's Walk, Healing the Earth"

 

Aba Yusufu is short, stocky and slightly hunched. He is closely connected with the land and nature and he is also deeply spiritual. In the graphic novel “Alama’s Walk, Healing the Earth,” Aba Yusufu shares the legend of the daughters of the dawn and dusk with Alama under a starry night by the fire in a banana field

Alama's Walk, Healing the Earth - Graphic novel now available

Alama the nomad from the northern desert continues south in his quest for peace. Along the way he meets other indigenous elders who share their stories and exchange peace tree staffs with him. This beautifully illustrated novel brings to life the amazing landscapes, customs and cultures of East Africa.

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Author/ Ethnographer Somjee reads a draft copy of the second Alama's Walk

 

Author/Ethnographer Sultan Somjee views a draft copy of the second book in the Alama’s Walk series. It is scheduled to be released in October 2022.

Alama’s Walk Healing the Earth is much larger, 150 pages compared to the first 90 page graphic novel. In this book Alama meets many new and interesting characters as he moves from his desert scrubland, to rich farmlands and villages. Along the way Alama hears more peace stories and meets both hospitable villagers and corrupt city officials. 

Alama’s Walk, The Oracle Speaks, the first graphic novel is now being used for training of peace and civic educators in the mitaani (slums) of Kenya.

All graphic novels are adapted from One Who Dreams is Called a Prophet, a book about a lone elder’s walk in pursuit of the last traces of Indigenous knowledge of Utu during conflicts. Utu in Swahili means the quality of being human or simply humanness or humanity. The walk resulted in cultivating conversations on reconciliation in a conflicted country, among diverse cultures, in diverse languages and diverse arts that led to the making of the Community Museums of Peace in eastern Africa. 

Each book has a running meme on Utu as viewed by 10 Indigenous cultures through elders’ memories, the environment, material culture, community stories, rituals and spirituality.   

Alamas Walk - Graphic Novel Reviews

I love this book!

“The images remind me of my childhood looking at pictures from African storybooks. They inspired me so much. I became a refugee at 11 and was shuttled from one refugee settlement to another around Africa. But the images of my African childhood stayed in my head. When I was still a child and safe in my ancestral land, I looked at the colourful pictures of Africa I could connect with. The graphic novel is truly a gift that I hope will reach far and wide amongst young African readers.

I want to send some copies to children in refugee camps in Africa, and to my nieces. This is gold. It's a treasure for us! I love the maps. For now, the graphic novel has been sending me to sleep remembering Africa. "

Njamba Koffi

author of Refuge-e: The Journey Much Desired.

I am grateful for the warmth of both the illustrations and the story

“I am struck by the layers of translation of embedded meaning enacted by the journey from physical objects like the walking sticks and leketyo, to written narrative inspired by them, to graphic illustration of both the words and the objects themselves. The sensory movements between and across emphatically material entity, written word, and drawing are so complex and intriguing. The sense of time and ambulatory tempo that I found so soothing in the book are terribly difficult to replicate in a much shorter graphic form of course but I found the passage of the day and Swahili time powerfully conveyed in Sadiq's illustrations - especially via the shadows on the earth. I also loved how richly saturated the colors are - the intensity of reds, oranges, yellows and pinks that vibrate from the pages and adumbrate sky and ground are so evocative, especially when seen in the gloom and rain of early January in England! I particularly like the way the notations of color in the ground have a textured patina to contrast the softer burnish of the sky - of course this helps suggest the physicality of natural features like sand and water, but it also adds to the sheer optical shimmer which is enveloping at points despite the modest page size. I am grateful for the warmth of both the illustrations and the story.”

Jonathan Shirland, PhD

Associate Professor of Art History

Department of Art & Art History

Bridgewater State University

MA 02325

Delightful story!

“This finely written and beautifully illustrated story reveals our age old yearning for peace and a sense of community. No matter your cultural background, geography or present day politics, Alama’s Walk - The Oracle Speaks is sure to gently tug on your heartstrings, give you pause for reflection, and help you realize once again the common humanity and simple desires we all share, and which bind us together. A truly refreshing read in these troubled times; Alama’s Walk is a story that transcends its East African setting and cultural heritage and speaks prophetically to all of us.”

Amazon reader review

Preview the graphic novel on Amazon

Alama's Walk, Healing the Earth (graphic novel, book 2)

It’s 5:30pm and sun is going down in equatorial Kenya, the sky is now a reddish orange. The smell of rain is the air, dark clouds form as Alama is led by three young boys to Aba Yusufa, the village elder. Alama is amazed by the rich river basin, a sharp contrast from his desert scrubland in the north. Fat cows, fields of maize, bananas and mangoes stretch across the land. A vibrant village with a rich culture deeply connected to the land. Alama absorbs joy from the children as he feels the warmth of the people. He has journeyed far. Soon it will be dark and Alama will rest his feet and gaze at the same stars from his homeland.

This is the scene I worked on over the last two days for the second graphic novel scheduled for the fall of 2022 - Alama's Walk, Healing the Earth.

These are the feelings I tried to capture in the illustration. I had several conversations with Sultan Somjee, the author/ethnographer of One Who Dreams is Called a Prophet about this scene. Besides my African childhood memories, readings and image research, Sultan advised me on time of day, the rain clouds, material culture and clothing. It is like going back to college and learning about the culture, landscape and ethnography. Like many art forms. I find this kind of illustration both enjoyable and meditative as I delve into a form of deep learning. 

Sadiq Somjee (Ilustrator)