Alana Joy Okonkwo reads “Life Story of a Gourd,” a creative label written through the lens of critical fabulation for a Nigerian gourd displayed in the Fowler Museum. Told from the perspective of the gourd itself, the piece reflects on identity, colonial history, and belonging by imagining the object’s experiences from its creation at the British Empire Exhibition to its place in the museum today. Through conversations with other objects in the collection, the gourd questions what it means to be “Nigerian” and explores how objects can carry layered histories, memories, and perspectives beyond official museum records.