The Disobedient Daughter Who Married The Skull

Aisha Madu received a grant for the development of an animated adaptation of the Nigerian folktale The Disobedient Daughter Who Married The Skull. In this humorous story, the beautiful Afiong resists her parents’ wish for her to marry one of their older, wealthy friends. Instead, she wants a young, handsome man “capable of loving her properly.” However, the man she chooses turns out not to be entirely who he claims to be. Aisha adapts this more than 100-year-old folktale into an animation that resonates with contemporary audiences, while the themes of self-determination, love and deception remain just as relevant today as when the story was first told.

Aisha combines narrative with visual poetry in a minimalist aesthetic. In her work, she explores uncomfortable and painful subjects, approaching them through humour and absurdism. She moves across various fields, including art, illustration, design, film and the internet. She created the web series SCHROOM: gênante verhalen, which was viewed more than 18 million times and produced in collaboration with VPRO. In 2024, she completed her short animated film House of Broken Hearts.