Enitan Bello is a Nigerian artist based in Toronto whose work spans writing, drawing, sculpting, and more. She views art as one of the greatest forms of self-expression and is deeply influenced by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, who said, “Form is just a vehicle... a means of saying what you need to say.” so she explores new mediums to best serve her ideas and message. Enitan’s art is a way of communicating her passions and often acts as a tangible diary. Her work touches on realities she witnessed growing up in Nigeria, social issues such as racism, sexism, and misogyny but also themes like joy, community, faith, and her love for Jesus.
My Wrinkles
Poem, 2025
My Wrinkles
-Enitan Bello
To believe I’ve wrinkled so immensely, is to believe I’m inching closer to laceration
not to say that I remain unaltered
as every change births another mile for the already consuming distance that aches me so
it began with small knocks at my doors
understanding of the fact that may no longer lie with them
yet wounded by the betrayal of my own body,
its compliance knows no bounds
as the mere movement of geographical locations and shift in time zones
persuaded so easily, my very own flesh, to lie not when my home lays their head,
but now when the sun comes down and the moon goes up for me
what was once habit, a sleep rhythm so dear to me, is now a foreign concept one I no longer
resonate with.
At times without my own realization
an unfamiliar tongue takes over my mouth,
the difference between waTer and WaDer no longer appear to be so concrete,
my page may wrinkle but never alone, the notes that I do not know the burden of working for but
understand the struggle of generating, wrinkle just as much.
Just as I transform, so does Naira,
it transforms in ways that even I, have never
to be transformed and not enough
because your presence is dictated by things beyond your control
exchange rates have their first go
then extortionate tuition fees follow,
with dual forces of a rigged international financial governance system
and a government that lays you on a platter for the ignorant to have a go at
so as wrinkled as my paper may be
the story it tells is much greater than the load I haul.
"My Wrinkles" is a poem that delves into my life and how being an international student from Nigeria in so-called Canada is a huge aspect of it. I centered my poem around five major points, what it is to be affected by your circumstance (wrinkle), what homesickness means to me, how code-switching presents itself in my life, the burden of international student tuition fees, and the role the Canadian government and other forces play in this unfairness and cruelty that many international students face. I made sure to be intentional about expressing how truly frustrating and in some ways hurtful dealing with time difference can be, by referencing the moment that it all started, the feeling of no longer being jet lagged. The second stanza of this poem to me, reflects the reality of coming from an exploited country, one with a struggling economy, where its currency faces major a decline in value. I speak about the presence of unfairly high tuition fees and the parties responsible for it, as well as the forces that enable individuals to treat international students the way that they do, in other words how in most cases international students are used as the scapegoat, a means for people to channel misdirected anger towards us.
