The Fighting Youth is the Most Beautiful

Cover art for Reckoning X by Mónica Robles Corzo, featuring a fish, a human, a snake, some mushrooms, and the tail of a fox in a semicircle surrounded by curlicues representing communication, with a big black X in the middle, against a white background.Reckoning X

Photographer Roseline Mgbodichinma describes this image as follows: 'The boy in the image is my little brother. We were playing at home in southeastern Nigeria when I asked him to stand beside our masquerade tree so I could photograph him. He stopped, faced the wall, and raised his left hand. He is wearing a cowboy hat and a T-shirt with a stylish Mandarin inscription on the back. The phrase loosely translates to: “The fighting youth is the most beautiful”—a sentiment that suggests the most beautiful part of youth is the part spent striving.'

A portrait of Roseline Mgbodichinma sitting in the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora in Accra. She is seated in front of a bookshelf filled with books that the Camera blurs out. She is wearing a black blouse with white patterns, and her hair is twisted and dyed ginger. Her head is slightly tilted.

Author: Roseline Mgbodichinma

Roseline Mgbodichinma is the author of A Body In Spice. Her writing explores the intricate relationships between nature, womanhood, emotion, bodies, and desire. She is an alumna of the Library of Africa and The African Diaspora (LOATAD) West African Writers Residency programme. She enjoys taking photos and admiring the beauty of nature. Her work has been published in Isele Magazine, Brittle Paper, A Long House, Duke University Press, North Dakota Literary, Tampered Press, jfa Human Rights Journal, The Willowherb Review, Agbowo, and SprinNG, among others. She blogs at www.mgbodichi.com

 

Photo credit: Nipah Dennis.

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