Báyò Akómoláfé: A Brilliant Bard Breaking Boundaries and Bouncing off Backslashes
Báyò loves a good alliteration. So this is a shout-out to him!
Báyò Akómoláfé: A Bard Who Invites Us to See Beyond the Door
Báyò Akómoláfé isn’t just a thinker; he’s a Bard—a storyteller, a poet, and a weaver of worlds.
His words have the power to disrupt our assumptions and invite us into a space of wonder, uncertainty, and transformation. To me, Báyò represents the best of what it means to be a Bard in the modern world: someone who doesn’t simply provide answers but opens up questions that challenge how we see ourselves, our systems, and the very nature of being.
One of his reflections that has stayed with me is his metaphor of doors and cracks. He writes, “If you can get a handle on it, it's probably a door. I'm wary about doors. And doorways. Doors are anticipated architectural technologies. They grant access, they permit exits… but they maintain the logic of the architectural frame.”
Báyò reminds us that doors, though they seem to offer freedom, are often traps of the familiar. They let us move within the existing structure—shuffling pieces, rearranging the same system—without ever truly stepping outside its boundaries. Doors, he says, “behave.” They follow rules, stay within the frame, and keep us within the already-known.
Cracks: The Invitation Beyond
What fascinates me most about Báyò’s work is his focus on the cracks—those unplanned, unruly ruptures that emerge in the frame. Cracks don’t behave; they defy design, break rules, and create spaces of possibility that doors never could. As he explains, “Cracks are not 'solutions,' not guarantees, not final answers. But something about 'them' marks deterritorializing tensions, and obliquely trace out new realities.”
Cracks don’t give us a roadmap or a guarantee of safety, but they offer something far more profound: the potential for transformation. They invite us to step into the unknown, to let go of the comfort of the frame, and to imagine something beyond the limits of the system.
For me, Báyò’s insight is especially relevant to how we think about trauma, healing, and systems of care. Too often, we try to heal by walking through doors—solutions that keep us within the same structures that caused harm in the first place. Báyò reminds us that true healing, true change, requires honouring the cracks. It’s in the cracks that new possibilities emerge, where we can begin to re-imagine not just ourselves but the world we inhabit.
An Invitation to the Cracks
Báyò’s wisdom isn’t about providing answers—it’s about inviting us to sit with the discomfort of questions. It’s about approaching cracks not with the expectation of resolution but with reverence for the unknown. As he so beautifully expresses, cracks are “design’s ecstasy,” neither fully within the system nor fully outside of it. They are the spaces where transformation happens, if only we’re brave enough to stay with them.
So, what would it mean for you to step away from the doors and into the cracks? To resist the pull of easy answers and instead honour the excessiveness of what lies beyond the frame? Báyò Akómoláfé challenges us to lean into the spaces that disrupt, unravel, and reconfigure—and that’s exactly why he is such an extraordinary Bard.
If you find yourself yearning to explore these cracks, to lean into the wonder and tension they hold, I invite you to join me in walking this path. Because, as Báyò so powerfully reminds us, “The cracks trace out new realities.” Let’s find those realities together.
