Eje

Growing up, the term“wife material”widely used with respect to the question of whether a woman would make a good wife. At it’s root is the belief that a woman’s value in the society or in the world at large was tied to her suitability or non suitability as a wife.

As such, in most African cultures, a girl or woman who possesses good attributes in body and mind is praised as good“wife material”foremost. It would seem as though all she is and would be can only be measured her value to a husband and in-laws and not to herself. A wife material was usually people-serving, self-sacrificing, nonjudgmental, non confrontational, in simple terms, meek and mild. She is also expected to be industrious but always submissive and humble.

Today, I wish all women to be liberated from that boxed up view that limits their value and potential. I hope they would see themselves as ‘star materials’.

Eje, 2023 is an original digital painting in my Star Material collection.