Ben Okri on Ayuba Suleiman Diallo: A Dialogue Across Time

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was an educated man from a family of Muslim clerics in West Africa. In 1731 he was taken into slavery and sent to work on a plantation in America. By his own enterprise, and assisted by a series of spectacular strokes of fortune, Diallo arrived in London in 1733. Recognised as a deeply pious and educated man, in England Diallo mixed with high and intellectual society, was introduced at Court and was bought out of slavery by public subscription. Through the publication of his Memoirs in 1734, Diallo had an important and lasting impact on Britain’s understanding of West African culture, black identity and Islam. In the early years of the nineteenth-century, advocates of the abolition of slavery would cite Diallo as a key figure in asserting the moral rights and humanity of black people.

Booker-prize winning Ben Okri is one of Britain’s finest writers. Fascinated with the enigmatic story of Diallo, and his relevance today, Okri embarked on a series of conversations to explore the painting and its impact with audiences at the National Portrait Gallery and its regional partners in Liverpool, South Shields and Leicester. Okri’s new poem, which was part of the display, was inspired by this journey of discovery into the moving and sometimes uncomfortable story of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and a portrait which raises many questions.

The tour and display was made possible by the generosity of Thomson Reuters, the Qatar Museums Authority and individual Gallery supporters. The display and its interpretation was complemented by a series of talks and events funded by the American Friends of the National Portrait Gallery, including a conversation between Ben Okri and Gus Casely-Hayford.

Diallo’s story

William Hoare’s compelling painting of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo is the first portrait of a black African Muslim and freed slave. An educated man from a family of Muslim clerics in West Africa, whose family traded cattle and other commodities including slaves, in 1731 Diallo was taken into slavery. He arrived in London in 1733 where he mixed with high and intellectual society, was introduced at Court and was bought out of slavery through a public appeal. After nearly a year in England, he was one of the few victims of the transatlantic slave trade to return to his family in Africa.

The portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo is on long-term loan to the National Portrait Gallery, from the Orientalist Museum, Doha (OM 762). 

Diallo’s Portrait

Dr Lucy Peltz, 18th Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, introduces this extraordinary portrait painted by William Hoare.

Ben Okri on Diallo

Inspired by the enigmatic story of Diallo, and his relevance today, Ben Okri’s new poem ‘Diallo’s Testament’ explores the moving and sometimes uncomfortable story of one man’s involvement on both sides of the slave trade.  Okri discussed the painting and its impact with audiences at the National Portrait Gallery and its regional partners in Liverpool, South Shields and Leicester.  His poem reflects this journey of discovery into the intriguing story of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo.

Ben Okri was born in Nigeria in 1959, and now lives in England. At once a poet, a fiction writer and an essayist, he is best known for his novel The Famished Road, for which he won the Booker Prize in 1991. Star Book, a novel dealing with the subject of the slave trade and art, was published by 2007. His latest book of fiction is entitled Tales of Freedom (2009), and a collection of essays, A Time for New Dreams, was published in 2011. His latest volume of poems ‘Wild’ was published in 2012. 

Diallo’s Testament

Ben Okri reads his sonnet, written as a response to the portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo.  

In Conversation: Dr Lucy Peltz and Ben Okri

Dr Lucy Peltz, Eighteenth Century Curator, talks with Ben Okri about Ayuba Suleiman Diallo and how this portrait has inspired his own and other participant's creative responses.

From June 2012, Diallo’s portrait toured Britain, with special displays at the Gallery’s regional partners, Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum, South Shields Museum and Art Gallery, New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester. This tour concluded with the display at the National Portrait Gallery. At each venue, Booker-prize winning author Ben Okri led creative writing workshops that explored Diallo’s story and relevance today.

See highlights from the workshops and meet some of the participants from Liverpool, South Shields, Leicester and London.