Robinson's House
Acrylic on Canvas, 67" X 54"
Justo Zulueta was one of the fathers of Perico. People say he was irresistible to women, and had 44 children, each with a different mother. They say that several Africans in the community noticed that Justo behaved like an earlier African ancestor who was consecrated with Oddu Aremu. When Justo himself was consecrated with Oddu, elders threw him into the lagoon, knowing he could not swim. He was in the lagoon for 45 minutes, and finally emerged holding a special herb in his teeth. The people knew that Oddu had pulled him in, and they laid down white cloths for him to walk on, all the way back to the refinery.
From that day on, Justo was called a child of Oddu Aremu. Justo's son, Reinaldo Robinson, now in his 80s, still lives on Justo's old house site and maintains a shrine to him there. The white cloths that hang from the ceiling in the painting symbolize the cloths Justo walked on, and the chair draped with a white sheet is the chair Justo used to sit in. A gifted print of this painting now inhabits Justo's chair to ensure that no one sits on it.