Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In Conversation with Imani Roach
In Chronicles of Ori, her debut book, Harmonia Rosales retells the African myths she has long treasured, crafting an enthralling epic that spans the birth of the universe to the modern world of colonialism and resistance. She writes of the powerful, temperamental deities called the Orishas; of the founding of Yorubaland by the shrewd leader Oduduwa; of the young heroine Eve, born in a time of violence and despair, who would help her people regain their past splendor; and of shimmering serpents and monstrous shadows who stalk the lands of mortals. At the center of these linked tales is the bond, sometimes fraying, between the Orishas and the humans who worship them. It was the Orishas who made humans, and who gave them their most precious resource: their Oris, or destinies. Vividly brought to life by Rosales's artwork, Chronicles of Ori will enlighten and delight readers for years to come.
Harmonia Rosales is an American artist from Chicago whose work depicts and honors African myths and the diaspora. She lives in Los Angeles, California.
Imani Roach is the inaugural director of the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There she is planning the first permanent gallery devoted to the arts of Africa and its diaspora in the PMA’s 150-year history, set to open Fall, 2026. In this role she also works with colleagues across the institution on educational, curatorial and conservation initiatives that center Black art. She was previously Assistant Curator for the Arts of Africa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York during the renovation and reinstallation of the Michael C. Rockefeller wing's African collection. A scholar of African Modernism and a proud Philadelphia resident since 2012, she has designed and led courses on the arts of Africa at Haverford College, the University of Pennsylvania, University of the Arts, Moore College of Art and Design and elsewhere. She has also worked in the arts journalism space, both as a senior editor at Guernica Magazine and as the first Managing editor of Artblog. Beyond her career as an art historian, she is also a regularly gigging vocalist and a new mom.
Recorded October 21, 2025
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Instagram: / flpauthorevents
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Podcast Archive: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/progra...
The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.
In Conversation with Imani Roach
In Chronicles of Ori, her debut book, Harmonia Rosales retells the African myths she has long treasured, crafting an enthralling epic that spans the birth of the universe to the modern world of colonialism and resistance. She writes of the powerful, temperamental deities called the Orishas; of the founding of Yorubaland by the shrewd leader Oduduwa; of the young heroine Eve, born in a time of violence and despair, who would help her people regain their past splendor; and of shimmering serpents and monstrous shadows who stalk the lands of mortals. At the center of these linked tales is the bond, sometimes fraying, between the Orishas and the humans who worship them. It was the Orishas who made humans, and who gave them their most precious resource: their Oris, or destinies. Vividly brought to life by Rosales's artwork, Chronicles of Ori will enlighten and delight readers for years to come.
Harmonia Rosales is an American artist from Chicago whose work depicts and honors African myths and the diaspora. She lives in Los Angeles, California.
Imani Roach is the inaugural director of the Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There she is planning the first permanent gallery devoted to the arts of Africa and its diaspora in the PMA’s 150-year history, set to open Fall, 2026. In this role she also works with colleagues across the institution on educational, curatorial and conservation initiatives that center Black art. She was previously Assistant Curator for the Arts of Africa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York during the renovation and reinstallation of the Michael C. Rockefeller wing's African collection. A scholar of African Modernism and a proud Philadelphia resident since 2012, she has designed and led courses on the arts of Africa at Haverford College, the University of Pennsylvania, University of the Arts, Moore College of Art and Design and elsewhere. She has also worked in the arts journalism space, both as a senior editor at Guernica Magazine and as the first Managing editor of Artblog. Beyond her career as an art historian, she is also a regularly gigging vocalist and a new mom.
Recorded October 21, 2025
Facebook: / authorevents
Instagram: / flpauthorevents
Twitter: / authorevents
Podcast Archive: https://libwww.freelibrary.org/progra...
The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.
