Masud Olufani was hurting. It was 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had everyone on lockdown, and, like the rest of Black America, he was shocked, horrified, and angered by the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

“I found myself having a really profound response to those murders — not just emotionally, but on a physical level,” Olufani says. “It did something to my nervous system that I hadn’t experienced before.”

The discovery of ancestors in Sierra Leone prompted Olufani to take a months-long trip there in 2021, after the pandemic lockdown was lifted. There, he was captivated by the sights, aromas, and sounds of bustling outdoor markets: merchants hawking colorful goods, grains and spices for sale, people climbing trees to tap them for palm oil.

The sensual feast, Olufani says, stirre

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