Ya Aworan Eya Ara Iforex

ALS EIN . Jejilja (Normen) tabi eto (Muster) ti ein fi le ile bi von in wa ni ibamu pelu ohun isenbaye (historisch) tabi ajogunba (Vererbung) tabi Spaß itosona eleyameya (verschiedene Rasse) gbogbo zu wa lagbaye, sugbon ISE. Je iwuwa-si (Verhaltensaufgabe) eleyameya gbogbo lagbaye eyi ti a nwo (understudy) tabi ya lo (geliehen) lati eya wa tabi omiran nitori bi a se nse ni eya ti wa, eewo ni nibomiran Apeere to wa ninu Asa ti a lee Toka si: Ona meta ototo zu daju la lee pin Asa si: Ede siso (Sprache): Eyi ni asa ti o ro mo gbolohun ti a fi nda eleyameya mo lagbaye. Ohun Ajogunba (Tradition): kini liana (normen) tabi eto awon ara atijo lori jije tabi mimu, igbeyawo, isomo loruko, isin oku omode tabi tagba, iki ara eni (gruß), okowo sise (handel), isura (sicherheit), Sise ara leso (Schönheitstherapie) bi lile laali, ila kiko, aworan yiya sara (tattoo) sise ona sise (Kunstwerke) ati bebe lo. Esin (Religion): kini liana tabi eto zu ro mo esin awon eleyameya agbaye ni afijo pelu esin ajeeji. Apeere to wa ninu Ise ti a lee toka si: Ede siso (Sprache): Bawo ni eya kookan se nlo ede gewann Ninu ise awon eya kan ni lati maa lo awon gbolohun bi EWA EDE bi Ijala, Esa, Ewi, fifi oro wero eyi To jo ara gewonnen (mit similes) ati bebe lo tabi ogede lati fi baa ara gewonnen tabi orisa gewann soro. Ise Abalaye (Tradition): Kii se ise (Kultur) awon eya miran ti kii se Yoruba lati maa le tiroo, sugbon gewann ya wa ni Asa (Gewohnheit) tiwon wischen tiiro tiwon zu je ti igbalode ti a npe ni itoju (Wimpern) lo Dara ju ti wa lo Lode oni, Bi a ba ri eni zu le tiiro nile wa, ein o so wischen oogun lo fi se. Awon apeere miran zu ba ohun isenbaye lo: Eewo (tabu) to ro mo jije tabi mimu: kini atubotan bi eda kan ba je ohun eewo sein Ohun eso ara (Schönheitstherapie): Laea lama (tattoo), Tiroo (lokale Wimpern) Lo gbode, sugbon itoju (Wimpern) ti ja eyi gba ni tigba lode. Ise Ona (Kunst): Gege bi gbe igi lere (artefakte). Il............................................................................................... Gbogbo ohun ti o ro mo asa ile Yoruba laye atijo lawon wonyi. Nipa Tesin (Religion): Kii se ise ti elesin abalaye lati ma se aluwala ko zu sin Olorun sugbon gewann ni awon eewo bi: mase sonne mo obinrin ko zu se esin, mase je igbin, mase je eran eyi tabi tohun ki gewann zu lee Baa gewann orisa soro. Ni afikun, ise awon Musulumi ni wischen ki gewann o wa ni mimo ki gewann o zu kirun. Musulumi ododo papa ni eewo tiwon O ni awon ounje tabi ohun mimu ti o je eewo Spaß gewonnen. Ajosepo zu Wa Laarin Asa ati Ise: 1. Asa je ilana tabi eto igbekale nkan zu je mo isenbaye tabi ajogunba. Zucker Ise je ibalo po tabi iwuwa si ara eni lawujo eya kan (Gemeinschaft) 2. Asa lo je baba Spaß Ise, nitori lai si Asa (ilana bi a o se se nkan, ein ko lee mo iru igbese zu ye ka gbe). 3. Asa ni a lee fi wir ile nla, ti Ise si je eru ti a ko da sinu ile na. Ibeere ni wischen: se a o wa tori wischen asa kan ko dara, ka wa tina bo gbogbo ile bi. Opolopo Asa ni ko sehen parun, sugbon ise lee se parun..ko si si ohun zu fa eyi ju olaju zu gbaye kan. Idi Pataki ree ti EWA EDE YORUBA fi waye ki Asa ati Ise zu rom o Ede wan ni siso ma ba dohun igbagbe. AKIYESI: Enikeni zu ba tun ni afikun l039ori eyi lee la gbogbo oluka iwe yi l039oye, nitori ogbon ko pin s039ibikan oo. Awon Agba Bo gewann ni: 039039Ogbon ologbon kii je ka pe agba ni waren (abi) Oodua a gbe wa oo. Ase ntEdumare. Thread: Aworan: Repräsentieren des Selbst und seiner metaphysischen anderen in Yoruba Art Aworan: Repräsentieren des Selbst und seiner metaphysischen anderen in Yoruba Art Aworan: Repräsentieren des Selbst und seiner metaphysischen anderen in Yoruba Art Art Bulletin, The, Sept, 2001 von Babatunde Lawal Unter den Yoruba von Nigeria und der Republik Benin bezieht sich das Wort aworan üblicherweise auf eine zweidimensionale oder dreidimensionale Darstellung, die von der naturalistischen bis zur stilisierten (Fig. 1, 2) reicht. Eine Kontraktion von (die was), wo (um zu betrachten) und ranti (erinnern, das heißt, das Subjekt), aworan ist mnemonisch in der Natur, die Identifizierung eines Kunstwerks als ein Konstrukt speziell in Handarbeit gemacht, um die Augen zu appellieren, Eine Repräsentation auf ihr Thema zu verweisen und gleichzeitig Botschaften zu vermitteln, die ästhetische, soziale, politische oder geistige Einfuhr haben können. (1) Es sollte jedoch betont werden, dass Yoruba eine Klangsprache ist, so dass das gleiche Wort je nach dem Ausdrücken unterschiedliche Bedeutungen haben kann. (2) Zum Beispiel, wegen einer Veränderung der Vokal-Töne, bezieht sich das Wort aworan nicht auf eine Repräsentation - die aworan ist - sondern an ihren Betrachter, eine Kontraktion von einem (der eine), wo (Blick auf) , Und tran (Schauspiel). (3) Die Bedeutung des Wurzelverbes wo (zu schauen) bleibt in den beiden Wörtern intakt und verknüpft den Betrachter mit ihm. Aroya: Imaging des metaphysischen Selbst Während ayajora (das naturalistische Porträt) bemüht sich ein Yoruba-Künstler, die Iwa, die Tatsache des Seins und die beobachtbaren und erkennbaren Merkmale des physischen Selbst, in aroya (das begriffliche Porträt) zusammenzufassen, ist er mehr Mit dem Wesen des Subjekts oder dem metaphysischen Selbst. Dies ist besonders der Fall bei Denkmälern, die bei der Kommunikation mit einer entmaterialisierten Seele in Ehin-iwa, dem Afterlife, verwendet wurden (Abb. 18, 20). Da es für das bloße Auge unsichtbar ist, kann sich dieses Andere Selbst - die Seele - nur vorstellen. Aus diesem Grund sind die meisten Altar-Denkmäler stilisiert, um die Rückkehr einer entmaterialisierten Seele von der erzählerischen Existenz zur pränatalen Spiritualität zu vermitteln, sowie ihre Fähigkeit, allgegenwärtig zu sein und mit den Orisa (Gottheiten) im Namen des Lebens zu intervenieren. Dementsprechend muss ein Künstler die Toten nicht kennen, um ein geeignetes Denkmal zu schaffen - obwohl er über die Geschlechtsidentität oder irgendeine besondere Note, die auf dem Gesicht oder dem Körper getragen wird, um den Verstorbenen mit einer Familie oder Abstammung zu identifizieren, informiert werden würde. Doch nach leavin g der Künstler-Workshop, das Bild in der Regel unterliegt Etutu, eine Personalisierung oder Namensgebung Zeremonie auf die Schaffung einer spirituellen Verwandtschaft zwischen Objekt und Thema. Die Zeremonie variiert von Ort zu Ort. In einigen Fällen handelt es sich um das Eintauchen eines Denkmals in das Wasser (omi iweku), das beim Waschen der Leiche des Verstorbenen verwendet und zu diesem Zweck bewahrt wird. In anderen Fällen kann das Bild mit dem aus dem Grab des Verstorbenen gesammelten Boden (ilepa) gerieben werden. Danach kann ein gegebenes Bild in einen Schrein gestellt werden, wobei der Schwerpunkt der Gebete, Oriki (Lobaturen) und Trankopfer, die den Verstorbenen beeinflussen sollen. Die Schreinfigur führt drei Hauptfunktionen in der Yoruba-Religion durch. Zuerst ist es ein Ami (ein Signifikant), das das menschliche Wesen des Signifers objektiviert, das Unsichtbare sichtbar macht und einen Ort der Verehrung und Hingabe liefert. Zweitens, da Kunst (ona) die Bewunderung befiehlt - wie von dem populären Yoruba-Namen Onaneye (wörtlich, Kunst ist ehrenhaft) - eine Gedenkskulptur ist ohun Auge (ein Dignifier), was die hohe Wertschätzung, in der der Verstorbene gehalten wird, Drittens ist es aroko (eine visuelle Metapher), die zum Beispiel eine Botschaft verkörpert, das Motiv einer Mutter und eines Kindes erinnert einen weiblichen Vorfahren an ihre mütterlichen Pflichten als Versorger und Pfleger, während eine lanzenhafte männliche Figur einen so dargestellten Ahnen anfleht Die Rolle eines Beschützers spielen. (98) Diese Funktionen scheinen die häufige Verwendung des Reitermördermotivs (jagunjagun) zu berücksichtigen, um männliche Vorfahren zu memorialisieren, um ihr Wohlwollen und ihren göttlichen Schutz zu sichern. Ein Beispiel des 19. Jahrhunderts soll Alaafin (König) Ofinra n (Abb. 18), einen Enkel von Oduduwa und einen der frühesten Könige des alten Oyo, dessen Herrschaft oft irgendwo im vierzehnten oder fünfzehnten Jahrhundert datiert ist, gedenken. (99) Yoruba mündliche Traditionen identifizieren Alaafin Ofinran, im Volksmund genannt Sango, als ein großer Zauberer und Krieger, der die alte Oyo-Kavallerie zu vielen spektakulären Siegen führte, angeblich mit seinen magischen Kräften, um das Gewitter zu gewinnen, um seine Feinde auf dem Schlachtfeld zu überwältigen. Bei seinem Tod wurde er vergöttlicht und mit Donnerkraft identifiziert. Angeblich von dem Haupt-Sango-Schrein im alten Oyo vor seiner Zerstörung durch die Fulani um 1835 gerettet worden zu sein, verwechselt diese Reiterstatue die historischen und die mythologischen Aspekte von Sango - dem Kriegerkönig und dem vergöttlichen Ahnen, der jetzt den Donnerkeil aus dem Himmel. Eine ähnliche Bildsprache widerhallt in seinem Oriki (Lobrede), oft vor Schreinbilder gesungen, die ihm gewidmet sind: le Welt. Iwa bezeichnet nicht nur die Tatsache des Seins, sondern auch die unverwechselbare Qualität oder den Charakter einer Person. (14) Die Yoruba identifizieren ein Kunstwerk als ona, dh eine Verkörperung von kreativen Fähigkeiten, die die archetypische Aktion von Obatala mit der Kreativitätsgottheit und dem Schutzpatron des Yoruba-Künstlers verwickelt. Der Prozess der Schaffung eines Kunstwerks heißt Onayiya (wörtlich, ona, Kunst und yiya, Schöpfung oder machen), ein Begriff, der in dem oben erwähnten Gebet für eine werdende Mutter verwickelt ist. Yiya leitet sich von der Wurzel Verb ya, was bedeutet, zu schaffen, Mode oder machen. Die Tatsache, dass der weibliche Körper die Obatalas-Schöpfung vermittelt (15), hat dazu geführt, dass Iya, das Yoruba-Wort für eine Mutter, als jemand, von dem ein anderes Leben gestaltet ist, oder der Körper, aus dem wir geschaffen sind, übersetzt wird. (16) Der Begriff jora bezeichnet eine auffallende Ähnlichkeit zwischen einem Kind und einem seiner Eltern oder bei Mitgliedern derselben Familie. So heißt eine naturalistische Repräsentation ayajora, eine Kontraktion eines (Aktes), ya (zu schaffen), jo (zu ähneln) und ara (physischer Körper des Subjekts). Das heißt, das Hauptziel der Künstler ist es, die individuelle Ähnlichkeit zu erfassen, wie in einem portr ait eines der alten Könige (ooni) von Ife (Abb. 1). Der Grund für die Prominenz des Kopfes in Yoruba Kunst wird in Kürze diskutiert werden. Eine begriffliche Repräsentation dagegen heißt aroya (eine Kontraktion von einem, Akt von, ro, zu denken oder sich vorzustellen und ya zu schaffen), weil es aus dem Gedächtnis geschieht. (17) Zum Beispiel ist die sitzende Frau von Fig. 2 weit davon entfernt, ein Porträt einer bekannten Person zu sein. Vielmehr ist das Bild ein Konstrukt - eine Figur für einen Altar, der die Erdgöttin (Ile) in ihrer symbolischen Rolle als Mutter und Hausmeister der Welt (Iya Aye) bezeichnet, daher ihre Appellation Onile (Besitzer des Hauses). Die beiden kleinen Figuren in ihren Händen repräsentieren die männlichen und weiblichen Aspekte der Natur, deren Interaktion die Verewigung des Lebens auf der Erde sicherstellt. (18) Die Betonung hier ist nicht so sehr auf die empirische Beobachtung wie auf die Verwendung des Geistes Auge zu visualisieren und geben materielle Form zu einer Idee. Das literarische Äquivalent von aroya (begriffliche Bildsprache) ist arofo (orale Poesie) - eine verkürzte Form eines (Aktes), ro (t o denken oder sich vorstellen) und fo (zu singen oder zu stimmen). Obwohl es sich um individuelle und regionale Variationen handelt (wie die Yoruba-Sprache Subdialekte hat), zeichnet sich der skulpturale Yoruba-Stil (vor allem in Holz, aber auch in der Stein - und Elfenbein-Skulptur) durch stilisierte Figuren aus - stehen, kniend oder auf Reit - - mit großen Köpfen, aufwändige Frisuren und vorspringenden Gesichtsmerkmalen (Abb. 4, 18, 20). (19) Durch das Ausbildungssystem werden junge Künstler ausgebildet, um Bilder in der Substanzcharakteristik einer bestimmten Region zu erstellen und die von der Vergangenheit überlieferten ikonographischen Konventionen (asa) zu beherrschen und zu interpretieren. (20) Die Tatsache, dass ein Großteil der Yoruba-Kunst in einem religiösen Kontext funktioniert, hat diese Konventionen stabilisiert und eine gewisse Einschränkung des Ausmaßes der Veränderung innerhalb des Kanons verhängt, während gleichzeitig Kreativität, Innovation und die Einbeziehung neuer Elemente ermöglicht werden In Zeit und Ort. Ein Lehrling absolviert nach dem Nachweis genug imo (Beherrschung von altehrwürdigen Konventionen), Imoose (Fachkenntnisse) und oju ona (li terally, künstlerisches Auge), um als Profi zu üben. Oju ona kann als Designbewusstsein definiert werden (21) oder die visuelle Erkenntnis, die es einem Künstler ermöglicht, Bilder aus der täglichen Erfahrung in Schemata oder Vorlagen (bestimmt durch den Yoruba-Stil) auszuwählen und zu verarbeiten, die dann im Bildspeicher gespeichert werden Abgerufen und modifiziert, wenn nötig, um eine Idee auszudrücken. Infolgedessen braucht ein gut ausgebildeter Künstler kein Lebensmodell oder eine vorbereitende Skizze, um ein bestimmtes Thema zu repräsentieren. Ein Carver z. B. beginnt mit einem Blick auf das Holz, während er das entsprechende Schema aus seinem Bildgedächtnis zaubert. So bedeutet der Begriff aworan viel mehr als ein Bild, das an das Thema erinnert. Es handelt sich auch um den kreativen Prozess, vor allem um die vorläufige Kontemplation (a-wo) des Rohmaterials und das bildliche Gedächtnis (iranti), das für die Visualisierung und Objektivierung des Subjekts notwendig ist. Danach projiziert der Carver das Schema auf das Holz, greift nach seinen Werkzeugen und folgt einem etablierten Verfahren: (a) sisa (blockiert), mit einem großen Blick auf Masse und Volumen zu zeigen und das Bild zu skizzieren, Betonung der Kopf (e) (b) onalile (Tracking-Formulare), mit einem kleineren Adze zur Klärung der Bild (e) (c) aletunle (Konsolidierung), mit Meißeln und Messer, um weiter zu definieren, die Komponenten (d) Didan (Glättung ), Mit Messer und Schleifblättern, um Werkzeugmarkierungen und raue Kanten zu entfernen, und (e) finfin (incising), mit einem Messer, um Gesichtszüge und Körperteile zu akzentuieren, Schnittmuster zu bilden und Oberflächenentwürfe zu schaffen. (22) Das Modellieren in Lehm (später in Messing oder Bronze gegossen) folgt einem ähnlichen Verfahren, obwohl Unterschiede in Material, Werkzeugen und Technik immer wieder unterschiedliche Ergebnisse liefern. Schnitzereien neigen aufgrund der subtraktiven Technik eher linear und kantig, während modellierte Formen aufgrund der additiven Technik ein glatteres Finish haben. Laut den in verschiedenen Teilen von Yorubaland interviewten Künstlern umfasst der kreative Prozess drei Gottheiten, Obatala Ogun und Esu. Obatala (Kreativitätsgottheit) p übergibt die phantasievolle Komponente, Ogun (Eisengottheit), die Werkzeuge für die Umwandlung des Materials und Esu (göttlicher Bote), die Vision und die Asche (Ermächtigungsmacht), die die Ausführung erleichtern. (23) Oriki: Verherrlichung des Kopfes in Wort und Bild Wörtlich bedeutet Kopf Lob, bezieht sich der Begriff Oriki auf eine Lobrede oder ein Gedicht (arofo), die die Würdigkeit eines Individuums verherrlicht. Es wird an kritischen Momenten gesungen, um den Kopf zum Handeln zu bringen und damit eine Person zu einer größeren Leistung zu bewegen. (24) Für den Kopf (ori) wird als der Sitz der ase (Ermächtigungsmacht) wahrgenommen, die Identität und Existenz bestimmt, Verhalten und persönliches Schicksal beeinflussen: Wenn ich Geld habe Es ist mein Ori Kopf Ich werde mein Ori loben, es Bist du Wenn ich Kinder auf der Erde habe Es ist mein Ori, dem ich Lob geben werde Mein Ori Es ist dir Alles Gute, was ich auf Erden habe Es ist Ori Ich werde mein Ori loben, du bist es. (25) In der Tat ist der Kopf (ori) der Herr des Körpers und muss daher anerkannt und stolz sein. Eine ähnliche Botschaft zeigt sich in der Betonung des Kopfes in der Yoruba-Kunst. Es ist fast immer der größte und aufwendigste Teil einer typischen Figurenskulptur, die oft mit einer kronenhaften Frisur oder Kopfbedeckung geschmückt ist (Abb. 1, 2, 4, 18, 20). (26) Mit dieser Komplementarität von Wort und Bild im Auge hat der Yoruba-Sprachwissenschaftler Olabiyi Yai vorgeschlagen, bei der Annäherung an die Yoruba-Kunst eine intellektuelle Orientierung, die mit den Yoruba-Traditionen der Stipendien in Einklang stehen würde, jeden einzelnen Yoruba-Kunstwerk und die Ganz corpus als oriki (27) Denn während die meisten Oriki (Lobreden) im Laufe ihrer mündlichen Übertragung von einer Generation zur anderen Veränderungen und Verschönerung erfahren, behalten sie oft einen Kern historischer oder ikonographischer Elemente, die das Wesen und den Charakter des Subjekts bestimmen. Darüber hinaus wurden Yoruba-Künstler in der Vergangenheit als Teil ihrer Ausbildung erwartet, sich mit den Oriki von wichtigen Persönlichkeiten und den großen Orisa (Gottheiten) in ihrer Gemeinschaft und mit der indigenen Theologie vertraut zu machen, die sie bei der Schaffung von Schreinen berücksichtigten Verwandte Bilder. So, abgesehen von ihren ästhetischen Qualitäten, sprechen Schreinbilder Bände über die Gesellschaft Yoruba, ihre Sozialpraktiken und Weltanschauung. Eines der Grundlagen dieser Weltanschauung ist, dass der sichtbare Kopf (ori ode) nicht mehr als ein Gehege für den inneren, spirituellen Kopf ist, der ori inu genannt wird, der die Asche lokalisiert, die das physische Selbst befähigt. (28) Obwohl die Asche vom Höchsten Wesen ausgeht, wird sie durch Esu (ausgesprochenes Eshu), den göttlichen Boten und das Prinzip der Dynamik im Yoruba-Kosmos vermittelt. (29) Ein Mythos behauptet, dass, bevor ein Individuum in die physische Welt geboren wird, seine Seele einen inneren Kopf (ori inu) aus einer Sammlung von fertigen Tonköpfen auswählen muss, die von Ajala, dem himmlischen Töpfer, geformt werden. Wegen ihrer Assoziation mit dem persönlichen Schicksal sind diese Lehmköpfe abstrahiert und ähnlich aussehen, obwohl jeder eigensinnig ist. Diejenige, die von einem Individuum ausgewählt wird, wird ein integraler Bestandteil des metaphysischen Selbst, der den inneren Kern des physischen Kopfes bildet und eine Person auf der Erde bestimmt. (30) In der fernen Vergangenheit widmete der erwachsene Yoruba einen Altar namens ibori dem inneren Kopf in Form eines mit Leder bedeckten, mit Kuhhautschmuck geschmückten Kegelschusses (Abb. 3). Einmal als Währung verwendet, diese Shells auf den Reichtum, dass ein guter Kopf kann eine Person zu bringen. Abgesehen davon, dass sie das Schicksal verbergen (ipin), verknüpft das ibori das Selbst mit Esu, der die Bewegungen, Emotionen und Handlungen, die mit Iwa, dem irdischen Dasein verbunden sind, entspringt. Als der göttliche Bote und die allgegenwärtige Agentur des Höchsten Wesens in allen Lebewesen ist Esu asoju (der Beobachter), (31) und damit der Katalysator für den Anblick. (32) Esus-Verbindung mit dem Kopf, vor allem das Gesicht (oju), wird durch die populäre Vorstellung illustriert, dass er, indem er seine Augen blinzelt, eine Person schön oder hässlich aussehen lässt. (33) Sogar männliche Orisa im Yoruba-Pantheon hängen von Esu für ihre Vision nach einem Mythos ab, er verwirrte Oduduwas mit dem Ergebnis, dass dieser die Wahrsagungsgottheit (Ifa) für einen Leoparden verwechselte und in Schrecken lief. (34) Mit anderen Worten: Esu aktiviert das Gesicht, den Ort der Wahrnehmung und Kommunikation, was die Entschädigung von Schmerz und Lust, Freude und Trauer, Hoffnung und Verzweiflung und andere Leidenschaften, die mit zeitlicher Existenz und Verhalten verbunden sind, widerspiegelt. Das Yoruba-Wort für eine Fassade ist oju-ile (wörtlich das Gesicht des Hauses), weil die Fassade zu einem Haus ist, was das Gesicht zum Körper ist, ein Index der Identität. Die Türen eines Hauses öffnen und schließen sich wie die Augen. Aus diesem Grund sind esu Bilder oder Stäbe oft platziert, aus Sicherheitsgründen, in der Nähe der Tür, an der Kreuzung und an den Stadttoren. Manche haben zwei Gesichter, die in entgegengesetzte Richtungen schauen (Abb. 4, 5), als ob die Entwicklungen von innen und außen von links und rechts von oben und von unten und von nahegelegenem und großem hinausgehen. (35) Die Cowrie-Muscheln auf diesem Stab bezeichnen die Segnungen, die Esu denjenigen, die er begünstigt, trotz seiner Ehrlichkeit verleihen kann. Das Flöten - oder Pfeifenmotiv identifiziert ihn sowohl als Herold, der die Aktivitäten aller Gottheiten koordiniert, und als Torhüter, Führer und Detektiv. Er veranschaulicht damit das Prinzip der Intelligenz, der Vigilanz und der Überwachung unter anderem in der Yoruba-Kultur. Kein Wunder, dass das in Abbildung 6 dargestellte Esu-Bild, eines von drei, das einmal in einem öffentlichen Platz in der Mitte des Dorfes Igbajo (etwa fünfunddreißig Meilen von Ife) installiert wurde, von Ijesa-Kriegern während ihrer Invasion von Igbajo in der Stadt vandalisiert wurde 1880s (36) notiere den Schaden am linken Arm. Übrigens ist Esu hier anthropomorphisiert und kombiniert das Aussehen eines Kindes mit dem eines Erwachsenen in Anspielung auf die paradoxe, zwischen-und-zwischen-Natur der Gottheit und seine Assoziation mit der Schwelle - ein wiederkehrendes Thema in einem Großteil seiner Oriki ( Eulogies): Der kurze und große, dessen Kopf kaum sichtbar ist, wenn er durch eine Erdnuss-Farm geht Dank der Tatsache, dass er sehr groß ist Aber Esu muss den Herd steigen, um Salz in den Suppentopf zu bringen. Labolarinde, (37) Wenn du die Grenze erreichst und ihm nicht begegnet bei der Stadtgut, die auf dem Feld arbeitet, wirst du ihn in der Nähe finden und er ist immer für jedermann zugänglich, einschließlich der Kranken. (38) Ayajora: Darstellung des physischen Selbst Die Betonung auf ara (physischer Körper) im Wort ayajora zeigt das Ziel des Yoruba-Künstlers in einem naturalistischen Porträt (Abb. 7-15): ein erkennbares Gleichnis des Subjekts mit einem zu erfassen Betonung auf oju amuwaye (wörtlich, irdisches Gesicht), das Gesicht, mit dem man geboren ist und das identifiziert iwa (tellurische Existenz). Dieses Gesicht ist zeitgebunden und verändert sich mit Stimmung und Alter. (39) Der Künstler ignoriert jedoch häufig die transitorischen emotionalen Aspekte und idealisiert nur jene Merkmale, die die Identität erleichtern, die Betonung auf jijora, oder was Robert Farris Thompson eine Mittelpunkt-Mimesis zwischen absoluter Abstraktion und absoluter Ähnlichkeit nennt. (40) In der Vergangenheit behandelten viele Yoruba die naturalistische Darstellung eines lebenden Menschen mit Ambivalenz aus zwei Hauptgründen. Einer stammt aus einer populären Vorstellung, dass jeder lebende Mensch einen Geist-Partner hat (ein Blick-ähnliches) im Himmel namens enikeji (himmlisches Doppel), das geistigen Schutz für sein irdisches Gegenstück bietet. (41) Die Schaffung einer Lebendigkeit in einem tierähnlichen Aussehen wird als Ablenkung wahrgenommen, die diese Beziehung gefährden kann, wodurch das himmlische Verdoppeln seinen geistigen Schutz zurückzieht. Der zweite Grund hat mit dem Glauben zu tun, dass durch eine sympathische Magie ein naturalistisches Porträt in ein Surrogat für den menschlichen Körper verwandelt und dann für positive oder negative Enden manipuliert werden könnte. Zum Beispiel wird in der Präventivmedizin namens Idira oder Isora (Verstärkung des Körpers) ein mit Reizen infundiertes Porträt an einem sicheren Ort oder einem Schrein gehalten, um den Referenten von Hexerei und Infektionskrankheiten zu immunisieren. (42) In der Zauberei, die asasi (böser Zauber) oder Edi (Tethering) genannt wird, kann ein Bild geknebelt oder erwürgt werden oder scharfe Gegenstände in die Augen, Ohren oder Rachen getrieben werden, um die Person, die sie repräsentiert, zu deaktivieren, zu verstümmeln oder zu töten. In einer anderen Art von Zauberei namens apeje (belehren und gehorchen) wird das Subjekt hypnotisiert, über ein geformtes Porträt zu handeln oder sich irrational zu benehmen, wie das Tanzen ohne Musik oder das Lachen zufällig aus keinem berechtigten Grund. In einigen Fällen ist eine physikalische Ähnlichkeit nicht notwendig, um dem Bild den Unterrichtsnamen zu geben oder einen Artikel von seinem Körper zu befestigen (wie Kleidung, Haarlocke oder Nagelparing). (43) Die Yoruba-Götter verfolgen die meisten Taten der Zauberei, um die Götzen, die Hexen, die Sadisten, die Konkurrenten, die eifersüchtigen Nachbarn, die Feinde oder die engen Beziehungen, die entweder ein paar alte Partituren haben, um den Erfolg zu begleichen oder einfach zu beneiden Einer anderen Person. Von größter Sorge ist Esu, der unvorhersehbare Trickster, der göttliche Bote und der Schicksalsführer, der in einem Augenblick wohlwollend und bösartig sein könnte, kapriziöser Freude in Leid und umgekehrt. Er ist der Agent Provokateur, der viele Streiche spielt, um die Menschheit zu reformieren. Wie das Trickster-Motiv in anderen Kulturen verkörpert Esu, was Lewis Hyde die paradoxe Kategorie der heiligen Amoralität nennt, durch die Gesellschaften ihr gesellschaftliches Leben und ihr Verhalten artikulieren und regulieren. (44) Das ist der Grund, warum der Yoruba-Kodex der Ethik alle höflich, gesellig, respektvoll, demütig, diplomatisch und sowohl Reichtum als auch Armut zu tragen hat (45). Auch muss man die Selbstbeherrschung angesichts der Provokation oder der Versuchung ausüben Man muss eine Lehre aus dem Olofefunra-Mythos lernen. Nach dem Mythos hatte Olofefunra, eine Gottheit im alten Ife, eine besondere Art, die Besucher in den Hain zu begrüßen, indem sie laut lachte und humorvolle Bemerkungen machte, als ob er sich mit alten und lang verpassten Freunden wieder vereint hätte. Aber wenn ein Besucher sich erwidert, so würden seine Gesichtszüge in der Verrenkung des lückenlosen Lachens endgültig fixiert bleiben (46). Gleichwohl wäre es riskant, sich in einer naturalistischen und offensichtlich ausdrucksvollen Weise darzustellen, dass es die Angst gibt Diese Feinde könnten die Arroganz in ein unschuldiges Lächeln hineinlesen, das Porträt stehlen und einen Zauberer dazu veranlassen, das Subjekt durch sie zu schädigen. (47) Dies erklärt, warum naturalistische Porträts nur wenige und weit zwischen der Yoruba-Kunst sind und es wenig Interesse an der Physiognomie gibt, dh die Verwendung des Gesichts, um die Seele oder den Charakter des Subjekts zu enthüllen. (48) Ako und Ipade: Naturalistische Zweitbeerdigung für die Toten Doch während der Zweitbeerdigungszeremonien für die Toten erscheinen naturwissenschaftliche Porträts mit einer gewissen Häufigkeit (Abb. 7-12). (49) Dies ist auf zwei Hauptfaktoren zurückzuführen. Die erste leitet sich aus dem Glauben, dass die Seele eines verstorbenen Menschen jetzt in einer übermenschlichen Existenzebene operiert und so immun gegen Zauberei ist. (50) Die zweite ist, dass die mnemonische Kraft eines lebensgroßen naturalistischen Bildes (ako) die Anwesenheit der Toten während der Zweitgräber-Zeremonie belebt, so dass Trauernde das Bild so behandeln können, als ob es lebendig wäre. Die kostspielige Zeremonie findet in der Regel einige Tage oder Wochen nach der Beerdigung der Leiche statt und wird normalerweise nur für die Reichen und Berühmten sowie für diejenigen, die zu einem reifen Alter gelebt haben und wurden von Kindern überlebt. (51) Einer der Gründe für die Zeremonie ist, dass es dem Verstorbenen ermöglichen würde, nach Ehin-Iwa (dem Afterlife) den hohen Status auf der Erde zu überführen. Nicht bis die Aufführung dieser Zeremonie wird die Seele des Verstorbenen die Gemeinde verlassen. Das Versagen des Kindes, dies rechtzeitig oder nach einer angemessenen Frist zu tun, kann dazu führen, dass die Seele sie in Form eines Gespenstes verfolgt. Darüber hinaus, da ein Künstler mit dem Verstorbenen vertraut gewesen sein muss, um seine visuelle Ähnlichkeit zu produzieren, desto länger das Intervall zwischen dem ersten Begräbnis (der realen Leiche) und dem zweiten (des Bildes) das Schwächere der Künstler Bildgedächtnis von der Verstorbene. Um dieses Problem zu umgehen, darf ein Künstler als Referenzpunkt das Gesicht eines Kindes verwenden, das dem Verstorbenen sehr ähnlich ist. (52) Dies erklärt zum Teil, warum einige Zweitbeerdigungsbilder viel jünger aussehen als die Verstorbenen zum Zeitpunkt des Todes. Dank der modernen Fotografie behalten viele Familien nun Fotoalben, aus denen ein gutes Bild des Verstorbenen (meist in seinem Mittelalter) ausgewählt und einem Künstler gegeben werden kann, um in ein zweites Beerdigungsbild zu übersetzen. Da das Bild gewöhnlich kostümiert wird, zahlt der Carver die meisten Aufmerksamkeit auf den Kopf, die Unterarme und die Beine, so dass die anderen Teile des Körpers relativ unvollendet sind (Abb. 7). Während einer typischen ako-Zeremonie würde das Bild, das in den besten Kleidern des Verstorbenen gekleidet ist (Abb. 8), in seinem Wohnsitz für ein paar Tage angezeigt werden, um Freunden, Verwandten und Wohltätern zu erlauben, ihre letzte Achtung zu bezahlen . Speziell benannte Familienmitglieder singen die Oriki (Lobrede) des Verstorbenen in regelmäßigen Abständen. Zum Beispiel: Mögest du glücklich sein, kannst dein Glück dir, der das große Schwert hat. Das scharfe Schwert, das Blut zieht Der eine von großem Ruhm Mein Vater ist der Große, der gefeiert wird Ein populärer Mann von Owo Große Männer von Owo, mein Vater ist der große, der gefeiert wird. (53) Nach den Indoor-Zeremonien würde das Bild in einer öffentlichen Prozession um die Stadt mit Begleitung von Überlebenden begleitet werden, alle singen und wünschen dem Verstorbenen einen glücklichen Ruhestand in Ehin-Iwa, das Jenseits: Essen Sie keine Tausendfüßler Was sie im Afterlife essen, das du essen solltest du möchtest es gut, bis wir die Wege kreuzen. Bis du in unseren Träumen auftauchst, sollen wir uns wiedersehen. (54) Durch das Bild werden Nachrichten an längst verstorbene Vorfahren geschickt. Gleichzeitig wird der Neulierte aufgefordert, das Leben nicht zu vergessen und seine geistigen Kräfte zu benutzen, um sie zu schützen. (55) Nach der öffentlichen Prozession wird das Bildnis im Wald begraben, zerstört oder aufgegeben. (56) Abbildung 9 ist ein Porträt der späten Königin Ameri Olasubude von Owo, die von Lamuren für Olasubudes Zweite-Grab-Zeremonie im Jahr 1944 geschnitzt wurde. Das Porträt wurde jedoch von der Familie des Verstorbenen mit der Begründung abgelehnt, dass der Künstler nicht Genügend Idealisierung. Zum Beispiel berühren sich die Zehen und Finger der Figur (Abb. 10), anstatt getrennt geschnitten zu werden, wie es die Tradition verlangt. (57) Anders als die ako, die fast immer eine volle Figur ist, die aufgrund ihres Gelenkkörpers und ihrer Gliedmaßen in einer sitzenden Position dargestellt werden kann, ist die ipade (ein Jäger-Zweitbeerdigungsdenkmal) meist unartikuliert. Nur der Kopf ist fertig, mit dem Rest des Körpers eine rudimentäre Behandlung, wie in der Porträt von Chief Aniwe, einer der mächtigsten Jäger in Ife vor seinem Tod im Jahr 1962 (Abb. 11). Es wurde von Taye Adegun geschnitzt. Ein kurzer Stock, der an die Brust der Figur genagelt ist, dient als Schultern für die Montage eines der Kleider des Verstorbenen (Abb. 12). (58) In einigen Fällen können zwei Stöcke, die wie ein Kreuz geformt und mit einem Hut und einem Kleidungsstück des Verstorbenen drapiert sind, als Ersatz für ein naturalistisches Bild dienen. (59) Eine Porträt-Statue, die von Taiwo Fadipe vom verstorbenen Chef Akinyemi Osogun von Ife, einem hochrangigen Priester von Ogun (Eisen - und Kriegsgottheit), der 1964 starb, geschnitzt wurde, wurde später vom Ife Museum of Antiquities erworben. Im Jahr 1976 nahm ich einen Druck von der Statue auf die Verbindung des Verstorbenen, wo ich es mit einem Foto von ihm verglichen. Die Statue trug nur eine schwache Ähnlichkeit mit dem Verstorbenen, aber die drei Markierungen (abaja) auf den Wangen sind genau die gleichen wie die auf dem Foto, die denkbar genug für diejenigen, die Chef Akinyemi Osogun wussten, wenn er am Leben war. (60) Daß die Gedenkfunktion des lebensechten Bildes eine lange Geschichte in der Yoruba-Kultur hat, scheint durch die Entdeckung von mehreren naturalistischen, lebensgroßen Messingköpfen, die zwischen dem zwölften und dem fünfzehnten Jahrhundert CE (Fig. 13, 14 ). (61) Einige von ihnen tragen Kronen, während andere Löcher um den Haaransatz haben, anscheinend für die Sicherung von echten Kopfbedeckungen oder Kronen. Amost alle Köpfe haben Löcher am Hals (Abb. 13), was darauf hinweist, dass sie zu hölzernen Torsos genagelt und in der gleichen Weise wie die ako gekleidet worden sein könnten. Folglich haben Justine Cordwell und Frank Willett vorgeschlagen, dass die meisten Köpfe wahrscheinlich in Beerdigungs - oder Zweitbeerdigungszeremonien für Könige und andere angesehene Personen verwendet wurden. (62) Diese Spekulation wurde mit der Begründung in Frage gestellt, dass die Schaffung eines Beerdigungsbildes für einen König (Oba) mit der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung von ihm nicht als göttliches Wesen unvereinbar ist, das nicht stirbt, sondern einfach in die Erde verschwindet. (63) Angesichts einer Zeremonie im heutigen Okuku, bei der der König der Stadt seinem inneren Kopf (ori inu) in einem besonderen Raum im Palast, wo viele wulstige Kronen gezeigt werden, Opfergaben, wenn auch nicht auf Porträtköpfen , Henry Drewal ist der Meinung, dass die lebensgroßen Ife-Messing-Köpfe geschaffen worden sein könnten, um die tatsächlichen Regalien in einem Schrein-Kontext anzuzeigen, vielleicht während eines jährlichen Ritus der Reinigung und Erneuerung für den König und sein Volk. (64) Während die Möglichkeit nicht ganz ausgeschlossen werden kann, folgt nicht unbedingt, dass alle Köpfe nur diese Funktion in der Vergangenheit vollbrachten. Neither does the public perception of the king as divine automatically preclude him from being honored with a second-burial ceremony. Despite the kings liminal status and the secrecy surrounding his death and burial, it is public knowledge that he is a flesh-and-blood human being who reigns and then passes away. The popular saying Oba mewa igba mewa (Ten kings ten epochs) makes it clear that the notion that the king does not die is only a metaphor for the antiquity and continuity of divine kingship among the Yoruba. As to be expected, a good king would be fondly remembered a bad one could be impeached by a council of elders (called Ogboni in some areas) and if found guilty of a serious offence, forced to commit suicide or executed. In fact, some unpopular Ife kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries met with violent deaths at the hands of their subjects. (65) Moreover, a kings mortality is explicit in the word abobaku, referring to those who die with the king in order to serve him in the Afterlife. (66) The question then arises: If chiefs and other important persons could be honored with a befitting farewell or second-burial ceremony--to enable them to carry over to the Afterlife the high status achieved on earth--why not the king himself, the most distinguished individual in a given community That the ceremony was performed for kings in ancient Ife may be inferred from a legend that palace officials once colluded with court artists to delay the a ppointment of a new king. Instead of disclosing the death of the incumbent king to the relevant authorities, these officials installed his effigy in a dark corner of the state room and continued to conduct business as usual, issuing orders on behalf of the dead king. The senior chiefs and members of the public unsuspectingly paid homage to the effigy until the deception was uncovered. (67) This legend has two implications. First, it suggests that the plotters had misappropriated an effigy that could have been used eventually for the second-burial ceremony of the same king and which, predictably, would have received a similar homage and befitting farewell messages. Second, it corroborates the thesis that the holes around the hairline of the life-size Ife heads (Fig. 13) might have been used for securing a beaded crown with veil (some still have bead fragments) that would have covered the face--as they normally do when worn by the king (Fig. 22). (68) The holes around the mouth probably sported a combination of beard and mustache that would have further obscured the face, thus enabling the alleged conspiracy to succeed for a while. Finally, that second-burial ceremonies for kings were common in the past is evident in the Adamuorisa (Eyo) obsequy of the Awori Yoruba of Lagos. (69) Until recently, a new king would not be allowed to perform certain rites until he had completed the final funeral ceremonies of his predecessor. which included the staging of the Adamuorisa. (70) Two of the most memorable Adamuorisa were performed for Oba (king) Akitoye on February 20, 1854, and for Oba Dosumu on April 30, l885. (71) However, unlike the ako figure, which may be carried in a public procession, the Adamuorisa (Eyo) second-burial effigy for a deceased king is displayed inside the palace only. The effigy is usually a banana tree trunk dressed up in expensive clothes and made to look like a real human figure wearing a hat or crown, though the face is covered with cloth. The display is accompanied by drumming and eulogizing, as is done for an ako figure. On the last day of the ceremony, hundreds of Eyo masquerades in white robes participate in a public parade to bid the deceased the last farewell. (72) Since a kings corpse is sometimes dismembered for ritual purposes, a second-burial effigy is, as it were, a re-membering of that body, providing a unique opportunity for a farewell ceremony that would enable the deceased to carry over to the Afterlife the high status achieved on earth. There is ample evidence that the Ife heads might also have functioned in interregnum, succession, andor coronation ceremonies, among others. According to a Benin oral tradition, before the fourteenth century, the head of a deceased Benin king (oba) was taken to Ife for burial and, in return, a brass head would be sent to Benin along with other royal emblems to confirm the successor on the throne. This is because Oranmiyan, one of Oduduwas youngest sons, founded the Eweka ruling dynasty in Benin between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and ruled there for a while before returning to Ife, where he eventually died. (73) The Benin practice may very well be a variation on an ancient Yoruba ritual of removing the head of a deceased king and using it for the transfer of royal power to his successor. (74) The latter then kept the head among his principal objects of worship. (75) Could the need to preserve the heads and memories of famous kings for a longer period have led to the creation of their likeness in brass If so, could this phenomenon be responsible for the scarcity of the life-size royal heads As yet, only about sixteen or so have been recovered out of almost fifty rulers on the Ife king list. (76) Even then, only a handful of the heads can now be positively identified with particular individuals. The mask in Figure 14, for instance, is said to represent Ooni (king) Obalufon, the son of Osangangan Obamakin, an Ife indigene who succeeded Oduduwa probably because he sided with the latter in his quest for political supremacy. (77) Obalufon (also known as Alayemoore) ascended the throne after his fathers death but reigned for only a short period before being deposed by Oranmiyan, who had earlier left Ife to found ruling dynasties in Benin and Old Oyo. Obalufon was recalled from exile to reoccupy the Ife throne after the death of Oranmiyan. The exact time of his reign is unknown, though some historians are inclined to put it at the beginning of the second millennium C. E. He is said to have changed the t itle of the Ife king from olofin (owner of the palace)--introduced by Oduduwa--to ooni (owner of the land) to indicate the return of the Ife indigenes (that is, the pre-Oduduwa people) to power. (78) Before Obalufon ascended the throne, Ife had been constantly raided by the Igbo, a pro-Obatala group in exile that refused to acknowledge Oduduwas sovereignty. This group was defeated, pacified, and reintegrated into Ife society during Obalufons reign, when the city witnessed an unprecedented era of peace, cultural development, and economic prosperity. (79) Obalufon is remembered today as a great patron of the arts and as the one who introduced brass casting to the Yoruba. Thus, it may very well be that the tradition of making life-size brass heads at Ife began during his reign. The stylistic similarity of this mask to the other life-size heads, dated between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, suggests that it was probably made within the same period. (80) Despite the popular legend that Oduduwa originated the bead-embroidered crown (which he then gave to his sons, who subsequently left Ife to become kings in other parts of Yorubaland), Obalufon is regarded as the epitome of that crown, apparently because of his long, peaceful reign and his exemplary leadership. This may explain why at the coronation of a new king in Ife, the crown would first be placed on Obalufons head--a stone image--before being put on a new kings head. (81) The openings below the eyes of the Obalufon mask suggest that it was worn on the face. It is therefore not impossible, as Suzanne Blier has proposed, that the mask might be integrally linked to this ceremony and the related rites of rulership transition in the past, reflecting Obalufons legendary contributions to the early formation of the Ife state and his posthumous deification and association with prosperity and good government. (82) A terra-cotta portrait head assigned to the same period as the Obalufon mask (Fig. 15) is said to commemorate the usurper Lajuwa, the chamberlain who temporarily seized the throne after the death of Ooni Aworokolokin, Obalufons successor. There is an allegation that Aworokolokin did not belong to the Oduduwa faction and that he probably died by some foul means at the hands of his courtiers, after his wife had been abducted. (83) Lajuwa reportedly hid his corpse, wore the royal regalia, and started impersonating the king. The disguise succeeded for some time apparently because, as mentioned earlier, the fringe of the beaded crown normally obscures the face of the person wearing it (Fig. 22). But the trick was soon uncovered and Lajuwa was executed along with accomplices, although his name continues to appear in some Ife king lists. (84) Lajuwas long, wavy hairstyle might lend some credence to this story in that it seems to betray his mixed ancestry, recalling the legend that Oduduwa and his group came to I fe from the northeast, which some scholars have identified with the Nile valley or the Arabian Peninsula. (85) Be that as it may, the palace conspiracy cited earlier is so similar to Lajuwas that one is tempted to take the two as different versions of the same event. Yet they could very well refer to separate events. The chances are that Lajuwa had exploited an established tradition of using an effigy or a human surrogate to represent or impersonate the king when he could not be physically present in court or at a public ceremony. The cover provided by the beaded crown with fringe might have encouraged this tradition, apart from the fact that, in the past, the king frequently used an interpreter who already knew what to say. Even today, some kings are barely audible, leaving the interpreter to speak on their behalf--which conceivably might have made it easier in the past for an impersonator to pass for the king. For example, at Old Oyo, whose ruling dynasty was founded by Oranmiyan (who later returned to Ife to depose Obalufon during his first term in office), a court official called Osiefa specialized in impersonati ng the king legitimately wearing his crown and receiving the same honors due the king when the latter could not be physically present at a particular ceremony. (86) While there is no evidence as yet that a similar official impersonated the king in ancient Ife, it is significant that one of the early Ife kings, Ooni Giesi, often asked his daughter (Debooye) to represent him at certain ceremonies because he was too old to attend. (87) The question then arises: Could some of the Ife life-size heads have been made at the beginning of a new kings reign with surrogate, ritual, memorial, and other functions in mind (88) The answer to this question must await further investigation. Nonetheless, the prominence given to royal regalia and bearing in many of the underlife-size portraits in the Ife corpus (Fig. 1) hints at a court art patently concerned as much with the personal appearance of the living as with the collective memory of the dead. After studying them for more than four decades, Frank Willett, along with other scholars, has observed that many of the Ife life-size heads share certain family resemblances both in form and style. However, it is not clear at the moment whether all of them were made by only one artist, artists from the same workshop, or artists from different workshops, removed in time and space. (89) The similarities of the faces could be due to the fact that the artists probably did not work directly from life models, and therefore had to depend partly on memory and partly on time-honored formulas for representing the human face. Note that a good majority of the heads have a dignified look, with relaxed facial muscles there is little or no attempt to express emotion. This idealization recalls the premium placed by the Yoruba on composure, suggesting, at the same time, that the artists might have been working within a stylistic idiom presumably aimed at relating all the individuals portrayed as Omo Oduduwa, or members of the same extended family. (90) Jean Borgatti has observed a similar tendency in other parts of Africa, namely, the downplaying of individual in favor of social identity, when an artist simplifies the face to conform to archetypes handed down from the past, though there is enough room for artistic inventions within a given stylistic convention. (91) Not all the naturalistic figures from Ife and Owo had functioned in second-burial contexts. This is confirmed by the fact that some are not life-size, while others have their mouths gagged, recalling the custom of muzzling the victims of human sacrifice to prevent them from cursing the headsman. (92) We are also reminded of edi, the sorcery (mentioned above) for rendering a person tongue-tied. One striking terra-cotta figure excavated from Obalaras land (Ife), dated between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Fig. 16), wears a skull pendant around the neck the face is contorted, with the mouth wide open, revealing the tongue. Other figures from the site have swollen faces. (93) The finding of such representations amid ritual vessels and several human skulls and bones has led to the hypothesis that the site must have some direct relevance to human death and that the terra-cottas also may have played some part in post-mortem ritual. (94) It is significant that the site belongs to the Obalara family. The head of the family is a priest of Owinni, a deified ancestor whose shrine once served as a sanctuary for smallpox sufferers. This fact, as Peter Garlake points out, could very well link the terra-cottas to rites aimed at preventing the recurrence of infectious diseases in the community. (95) Equally intriguing is a fifteenth-century terra-cotta representation from Owo (about eighty miles southeast of Ife) of a basket filled with severed heads slashed on the face (Fig. 17). According to Chief Obadio, the high priest of Oduduwa in Ife, human sacrifice was offered to the deity in the past and that terracotta human heads adorn the ritual spots. (96) In that case, can we regard this basket of heads from Owo as a variation of the practice at Ife (97) Or are the heads substitutes for real ones in between major sacrifices Insufficient archaeological evidence makes it impossible at the moment to answer any of these questions with confidence. What seems to be fairly certain is that in the past, naturalistic por traits had precise, limited, and specialized functions in ritual and ceremonial contexts in which recognizability of a living or deceased person was very important. Aroya: Imaging the Metaphysical Self Whereas in ayajora (the naturalistic portrait), a Yoruba artist endeavors to summarize the iwa, the fact of being and the observable and recognizable features of the physical self, in aroya (the conceptual portrait), he is more concerned with the essence of the subject or the metaphysical self. This is particularly the case with memorials used in communicating with a dematerialized soul in Ehin-iwa, the Afterlife (Figs. 18, 20). As it is invisible to the naked eye, this Other self--the soul--can only be imagined. For this reason, most altar memorials are stylized to signify the return of a dematerialized soul from telluric existence to prenatal spirituality, as well as its ability to be omnipresent and to intercede with the orisa (deities) on behalf of the living. Accordingly, an artist need not know the dead to create an appropriate memorial--though he would be briefed about gender identity or any special mark worn on the face or body to identify the deceased with a family or lineage. However, after leavin g the artists workshop, the image usually undergoes etutu, a personalization or naming ceremony aimed at establishing a spiritual kinship between object and subject. The ceremony varies from place to place. In some cases, it involves the dipping of a memorial into the water (omi iweku) used in washing the corpse of the deceased and preserved for this purpose. In other cases, the image may be rubbed with the soil (ilepa) collected from the grave of the deceased. Thereafter, a given image may be placed in a shrine, becoming the focus of prayers, oriki (eulogies), and libations intended to influence the deceased. The shrine figure performs three major functions in Yoruba religion. First, it is an ami (a signifier), objectifying the human essence of the signified, making visible the invisible, and providing a locus of veneration and devotion. Second, since art (ona) commands admiration--as indicated by the popular Yoruba name Onaneye (literally, Art is honorable)--a memorial sculpture is ohun eye (a dignifier), reflecting the high esteem in which the deceased is held. Third, it is aroko (a visual metaphor), embodying a message for example, the motif of a mother and child reminds a female ancestor of her maternal duties as a provider and nurturer, while a lance-holding male figure implores an ancestor so depicted to play the role of a protector. (98) These functions would seem to account for the frequent use of the equestrian warrior motif (jagunjagun) to memorialize male ancestors, in an attempt to secure their benevolence and divine protection. A nineteenth-century example is said to commemorate Alaafin (king) Ofinra n (Fig. 18), a grandson of Oduduwa and one of the earliest kings of Old Oyo, whose reign is often dated somewhere in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. (99) Yoruba oral traditions identify Alaafin Ofinran, popularly called Sango, as a great magician and warrior who led the Old Oyo cavalry to many spectacular victories, reportedly using his magical powers to attract the thunderstorm to overwhelm his enemies in the battlefield. On his death, he was deified and identified with thunder power. Alleged to have been salvaged from the principal Sango shrine at Old Oyo before its destruction by the Fulani about 1835, this equestrian statue conflates the historical and the mythological aspects of Sango--the warrior king and deified ancestor who now hurls down the thunderbolt from the sky. A similar imagery reverberates in his oriki (eulogy), often chanted in front of shrine images dedicated to him: Your eyes are white like bitter kola nut Your cheeks are round like red kola nut Fire-spitting masquerader, you frighten the big cat. Fire in the eye, fire in the mouth, fire on the roof You ride fire like a horse (100) Accordingly, this statue of Sango has a sight-and-sound dimension that further deepens the metaphoric meanings of aworan. It may be classified under what W. J.T. Mitchell calls the imagetext--an inextricable weaving together of representation and discourse, so that the visible becomes readable, (101) and audible. Contrary to expectations, Sango looks quiet and serene in the statue the horse is motionless. This manner of representation is part of a complex aesthetic strategy aimed at dissuading Sango from violent eruptions it is an exercise in latent ambiguity, underscoring the fact that an artistic representation can hardly do justice to the kinetics of the thunderstorm: the latter is better experienced than represented. The image falls into the category of what Philip Wheelwright calls the intensive symbol, which conceals and reveals at the same time. (102) One other important Yoruba tradition of memorial figure is the ere ibeji, a statuette dedicated to a dead twin (Fig. 19). Underlying the practice is the notion that while twins are physically double, they are spiritually one, and thus inseparable. If one of them should die, a statuette is made to localize the soul of the deceased. It is usually kept in a safe place in the house and sometimes given to the surviving twin to play with as if it were a doll, the main objective being to use the statuette to maintain the spiritual bond between the living and the dead. The statuette, made to reflect the gender of the deceased child, is normally commissioned from a carver on the recommendation of a diviner. When completed, the statuette is washed in herbal preparations before being handed over to the diviner, who then invokes the soul of the deceased twin into it. Thereafter, the statuette is treated like a living child, being fed symbolically at the same time as the surviving twin is having its food. If a new dress i s bought for the surviving child, a miniature is acquired for the statuette. The one held by this woman represents her deceased twin brother, who reportedly died about 1895, after which the memorial was carved. (103) The picture was taken in the early 1960s. The smallness of the statue--and twin memorials in general--is both symbolic and functional: on the one hand, it reflects the fact that, in the past, a good majority of the twins died in infancy on the other, the small size facilitates portability, especially when the statuette is given to the surviving twin to play with or when the mother dances with it in honor of the deceased twin. If both twins should die, another statuette is commissioned, and the two are treated like living children in the hope that they will be born again to the same mother (Fig. 20). (104) Tradition requires the carver to give both statuettes the same facial features to emphasize the oneness in their twoness, even if the deceased twins were not identical. The statuettes are usual ly placed in a shrine (Fig. 23) for contacting the souls of the departed twins in the Afterlife. The belief that they are capable of attracting good fortune to their parents is reflected in the following oriki (eulogy) of twins: The intimate two, the royal egrets, the natives of Isokun (105) Offspring of the colobus monkey of the tree tops. (106) The intimate two by-passed the house womb of the wealthy By-passed the house womb of the rich and famous. But entered the house womb of the poor Transforming the poor into a rich person. (107) Apepa sorcery cannot affect the natives of Isokun. Both wizards and witches pay homage to the intimate two. (108) Ojo a ku la a dere: Portraiture, Posthumous Beauty, and Social Identity The tradition of dedicating shrine figures to the dead is said to date back to an Edenic period in Yoruba history called igba iwase (literally, beginnings of existence), when human beings reportedly did not die as they do today. Whenever the physical body became too old or weak to sustain the soul within it, all an individual needed to do was to enter a cave that led to heaven, where the soul would reincarnate in a new body and then come back to resume earthly life. (109) Whoever was tired of living on earth returned to heaven through the cave. Newly embodied souls entered the earth through the same cave. Some powerful figures did not depart the normal way they simply turned into stone figures. (110) This is called didi ota (the art of becoming stones). According to J. A. Ademakinwa, an indigene of Ife, where many ancient stone figures abound, such a person, prior to death, would commission a portrait that would be hidden in a place known only to a few close friends. It was these friends who secretly burie d the deceased and later announced to the general public that a well-known personality had turned into stone, disclosing where the effigy had been hidden, which would then be set up as a shrine to perpetuate the memory of the deceased. (111) One such stone dated to the early part of the second millennium C. E. (Fig. 21) is said to commemorate Idena, a famous hunter and one of the bodyguards of Oreluere, the custodian of indigenous traditions and domestic morality in ancient Ife, who reportedly teamed up with Obatala to challenge Oduduwa after the latter had usurped the throne. (112) Before being transferred to the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos, the statue stood at the entrance of the Oreluere shrine at Ife, the spot where Idena allegedly turned into stone. The legend that the ancient ones did not die but turned into stones resonates in the popular Yoruba saying Ojo a ku la a dere, eniyan ko sunwon laaye (It is death that turns an individual into a beautiful sculpture a living person has blemishes). (113) In other words, a persons earthly existence begins as a piece of sculpture molded by Obatala and ends with the separation of the empirical self from its meta-empirical Other the human body becomes a corpse, reverting, as it were, to what it was originally--an ere (sculpture). The phrase a living person has blemishes bespeaks the Yoruba tendency to canonize the dead. Their code of ethics demands that a loss of life be mourned, regardless of an individuals foibles before death even former critics, enemies, and detractors are expected to pay the proverbial last respects to the deceased. Similarly, an artist is obliged to honor the dead with a well carved memorial, and he frequently makes the subject look younger. As Mosudi Olatunji, the famous Imeko carv er, told Robert Farris Thompson in the early 1960s: If I am carving the face of a senior devotee I must carve him at the time he was in his prime. Why If I make the image resemble an old man the people will not like it. I will not be able to sell the image. One carves as if they were young men or women to attract people. (114) So it is that twin memorials (ere ibeji) are often carved to recall people in their prime (Figs. 19, 20), notwithstanding the fact that a good majority of twins died in infancy. (115) If naturalism (ayajora) is required, as in the life-size brass heads from Ife (Figs. 13, 14) or in second-burial ako effigies (Figs. 7-10), the artist idealizes the portrait, transforming it into an ere (sculpture) and emphasizing composure while ignoring accidental facial features such as scars and deformities associated with iwa physical existence. As Rowland Abiodun points out, The deceased person may have lost an eye, ear or even a few fingers during his life, but the ako effigy allows for a reconstruction of these parts. (116) Thus, death transforms the ugly into the beautiful a living person has blemishes. A memorial destined for the altar may be criticized while in the workshop of the carver, but once consecrated and placed on an altar, it is no longer criticized because it partakes of the sacredness and spiritual beauty associated with the dead. (117) Thereafter, the focus is on its ritual rather than formal values. In the past, many Yoruba wore permanent face marks that identified them with particular families, lineages, or subethnic groups. (118) The same marks adorn the faces of secondburial statues, altar memorials, and ancestral masks, thus relating the living to the dead and the human to the divine. (119) As Frank Willett aptly observes, It is indeed one of the surprises of living in Yorubaland that one does frequently see people whose features remind one very forcibly of a particular sculptural style, yet the sculptures are not portraits of individuals, but they are supposed to look as if they might be. (120) In short, the Yoruba style, particularly in woodcarving, combines the generic with the specific, relating the individual to the collective, stressing social identity and thereby epitomizing the quest for unity underlying the Omo oduduwa concept. This quest finds its most popular political expression in the image of the oba (king), the temporal and spiritual head of a given community and a personification of its corporate existence. In the past, the king seldom left his palace except on special occasions, and when he did, he usually wore a beaded crown with veil that partly concealed his face (Fig. 22). However, this tradition has since been modified, so that the king appears more frequently in public today without donning the crown, doing so only on certain ceremonial occasions. Most crowns have a stylized face in the front that serves as the kings official face. The same face (or a similar face--should a new king decide to replace an old crown) identified his predecessors in public and will do the same for his successors. This face, commonly identified with Oduduwa, transforms the king into a masked figure--an icon conjuring up the image of the mythical progenitor, functioning as a paradigm of the oneness of the king and his subjects, on the one hand, and of the reigning king and the royal dead, on the other. (121) Itunranite: Is Obatala a Self-Reflection of the Yoruba Artist According to Yoruba cosmology, the decision of Olodumare (Supreme Being) to create humans was prompted by a desire to transform the primeval wilderness below the sky into an orderly estate. Human beings are called eniyan (the specially selected) because, as a divination verse puts it, they are the ones ordained to convey goodness to the wilderness below the sky. (122) In other words, divinity abides in humanity, and vice versa. It is therefore not surprising that some of the orisa (deities) allegedly assumed human forms in order to accompany the first humans to the earth--which easily accounts for their personification in shrine sculptures and spirit medium-ship. Ogun, the iron deity, led the way, using his machete to cut a path through the primeval jungle, laying the foundation for Yoruba civilization. (123) The popular name Ogunlana (Ogun paves the way) commemorates this archetypal event, emphasizing the importance (first) of stone and (later) of iron tools in agriculture, urban planning, lumbering, archi tecture, warfare, and art. (124) We are also reminded of Oguns vital contributions to the human image molded by Obatala, detailing the face and cutting open the eyes later activated by Esu. The resultant image--a masterpiece--embodies a special ase (transformatory power), inspiring and sustaining the creativity manifested in the visual and performing arts and enabling the Yoruba collective to continually redesign its environment as well as to re-present itself through body adornments and idealized or conventionalized portraiture. As one divination verse remarks: If I am created, I will re-create myself I will observe all the taboos Having been created, I shall now re-create myself. (125) Three major questions remain, however. Since the creativity deity Obatala also assumed an anthropomorphic form in order to accompany the first humans to the earth, was the archetypal human image a self-portrait Or was Obatala originally a mortal who once lived in ancient Ife and was deified as an orisa for his phenomenal creative endowment Or was he a figment of the imagination and a self-reflection of the Yoruba artist That Obatala was a deified culture hero, if not a self-reflection of the Yoruba artist, is evident in the popular Yoruba saying Bi eniyan ko si, orisa ko si (No humanity, no deity). (126) In other words, the worshiped depends on the worshiper for its existence divinities are human constructs. (127) Put differently, it is eniyan (humanity) that visualized and anthropomorphized the orisa (divinity), Simultaneously inverting the process to rationalize its own creation. This act of self-reflection and self-re-creation (itunranite) constitutes the divinities (orisa) into a sort of superhuman Other--an extension of the metaphysical self--providing a basis for involving them in the ethics, aesthetics, poetics, and politics of human existence. It has resulted in a conventionalized form of portraiture that easily relates the self to the body politic, called Omo Oduduwa, (128) on the one hand, and to the superhuman Other, venerated as Olodumare, the orisa (divinities), and deified ancestors, on the other. Whether Oduduwa (the Yoruba mythical ancestor) is an earth goddess or a historical male figure is not an issue here. Much more important is how the concept of a common ancestor (alajobi) has been used to create a sociopolitical framework and a mode of portraiture in which myth and reality, word and image, the human and divine are intricately joined to forge a Yoruba identity out of previously diverse, even if related, groups. Iworan: Portraiture, Spectacle, and the Dialectics of Looking Since the face is the seat of the eyes (oju), no discussion of aworan (representation), especially portraiture, would be complete without relating it to iworan, the act of looking and being looked at, otherwise known as the gaze. To begin with, the Yoruba call the eyeball eyin oju, a refractive egg empowered by ase (mediated by Esu), enabling an individual to see (riran). As with other aspects of Yoruba culture, the eyeball is thought to have two aspects, an outer layer called oju ode (literally, external eye) or oju lasan (literally, naked eye), which has to do with normal, quotidian vision, and an inner one called oju inu (literally, internal eye) or oju okan (literally, minds eye). The latter is associated with memory, intention, intuition, insight, thinking, imagination, critical analysis, visual cognition, dreams, trances, prophecy, hypnotism, empathy, telepathy, divination, healing, benevolence, malevolence, extrasensory perception, and witchcraft, among others. For the Yoruba, these two layers of th e eye combine to determine iworan, the specular gaze of an individual. The stress on the root verb, wo (to look at), clearly shows that aworan (portrait or picture) is a lure for the gaze--to borrow Jacques Lacans term. (129) As noted earlier, the term aworan is a contraction of a (that which), wo (to look at), and ranti (to recall the subject), alluding both to the capacity of a representation to recall its referent and to an artists preliminary contemplation (a-wo) of the raw material and the pictorial memory (iranti) involved in visualizing and objectifying the form. As Lacan has pointed out, the act of looking is influenced by a host of factors, such as desire, mood, knowledge, cultural milieu, and individual whims and caprices, and it is a reciprocal process as well. What we see (animate or inanimate) also sees us and has a particular way of relating to our eyes. (130) This illusion is most striking in aworan (especially a portrait), which stares back at the aworan (spectator), turning him or her into an iran (spectacle), if not another picture (aworan), (131) The fear that a viewer may subjectively read into a portraits gaze what was not intended by the artist or the subject may very well be one of the reasons why many Yoruba in the past (especially the rich and privileged) refrained from having themselves portrayed naturalistically or in a manner that may trigger jealousy in the have-nots and awon aye (the evil-minded ones). A divination verse sums up the mutual suspicion associated with the gaze in the following manner: You are looking at me I am looking at you. Who has something up hisher sleeves between the two of us (132) Some may resent how a portrait seems to snub them others may be frustrated by something they see about themselves in that portrait--something they subconsciously want to be but, somehow, cannot be. It is as though the achievements of one person have hindered the progress of another. It should be pointed out, however, that naturalistic effigies of the dead are not treated with the same suspicion, being primarily intended to mark their last physical, even if symbolic, appearance among the living. The popular saying Oku olomo ki i sun gbagbe (Those survived by children do not sleep forgetfully) (133) explains why most second-burial portraits have their eyes wide open (Figs. 7-12). It is an appeal to the departed to remain vigilant in the Afterlife, protecting the interests of their living relations and interceding with the deities on their behalf. (134) When installed indoors, seated on a stool, a second-burial effigy receives many salutations, becoming apewo (a focus of the gaze) and recalling the phrase It is death that turns an individual into a beautiful sculpture a living person has blemishes. (135) Some relations would look at the effigy straight in the eyes while chanting the oriki (eulogy) of the deceased, imploring its soul not to stay too long in the Afterlife before reincarn ating as a newborn baby. Former peers may talk to the image, calling the deceased by name and pledging to assist in completing any unfinished project or in ensuring that the toddlers left behind do not suffer. In 1967, at the second-burial ceremony (ipade) of a hunter at Ifo, near Abeokuta, I witnessed what the Yoruba would call awosunkun, that is, look and cry. The effigy had just been delivered to the family by the carver and was taken to the backyard of the house for a dress rehearsal before the real ceremony began in the evening. It was rendered in the same style as that of Chief Aniwe (Figs. 11, 12), except that it had three vertical marks (pele) on the cheeks. Placed against the wall, the effigy was fitted with a cotton smock (dansiki) and a pouchlike hunters cap (adiro). Then, some people knelt down and prayed in front of it. But the children of the deceased just stared speechlessly at the effigy, unable to control the tears welling up in their eyes and running down their cheeks. For them, it was a sad reminder of a physical self--once full of life, energy, and enthusiasm--now gone irretrievably with the past, to be encountered in an immaterial form only in dreams, visions, and flashes of memory, according to the dirge cited earlier. (136) Whereas most second-burial figures are life-size and intended for public and open-air display, a good majority of the altar figures are smaller in scale, being designed to fit into private, prosceniumlike indoor spaces or small rooms serving as sites for offering periodic prayers and sacrifices to the deities or ancestral dead. Here the view of the figures is restricted to a handful of people such as the priest in charge or the owner of a given altar and those seeking spiritual assistance. Nonetheless, the diminutive and schematized forms of most altar figures, barely visible in the dimness of an indoor shrine, tend to place the figures at a considerable remove from the worldly, creating an illusion of an otherworldly space into which a beholder gazes in awe of the sublime (Fig. 23.) (137) With protruding eyes and looking like extraterrestrial beings, the figures (especially those with well-defined pupils) return the viewers gaze so fixedly as if seeing beyond the visible or reading the viewers mind. In the scopic encounter (and from the authors personal experience) one soon begins to identify with, or see oneself in the figures--not necessarily in the Lacanian sense of a mirror image in which the self is alienated (138) but, rather, in a futuristic sense (as the figures are not mimetic) of what this mortal self shall eventually and inevitably become: an ere (sculpture). This calls to mind, once again, that popular saying It is death that turns an individual into a beautiful sculpture. Some altar figures (especially those without clearly defined eyes) seem to look inward, as if in a reverie, or as if meditating on the fate of humanity. (139) The Yoruba ambivalence toward the gaze is summed up in the popular phrase Ejeji la a wo eniyan bi o ba se yinyin, a se eebu (We look at a person in one of two ways: either to commend or to condemn). (140) The positive aspect, which elicits commendation (iyin), has to do with the adun (pleasures or benefits) derived from looking or being admired. What attracts and nourishes the eyes (oju) is the ewa (beauty), isona (creativity), or ara (tour de force) manifested in a given spectacle, portrait, or a work of art in general. Any striking evidence of the beautiful or the virtuosic is said to fa oju mora (magnetize the eyes), ba oju mu (fit the eyes), becoming awowo-tun-wo (that which compels repeated gaze) or awoma-leelo (that which moors the gaze. (141) The genuine or a precious object is called ojulowo (literally, the eyes have money), implying that the object is so unique that the eyes can spend any amount to look at it. An image is designated awoyanu (literally, that which causes the viewer to gape) if it manifests such an incredibly high artistic skill as to suggest the use of occult powers. Consequently, the Yoruba use the same term, dun (delicious), for a palatable meal and a memorable spectacle, both arousing a desire for more. In the words of a Yoruba poet: What do we call food for the eyes What pleases the eyes as prepared yam flour satisfies the stomach The eyes have no food other than a spectacle. Never will the eyes fail to greet the beautiful one Never will the eyes fail to look upon one-as-elegant-as-a-kob-antelope. Egungun masks are performing in the market let us go and watch them. It is because we want to feed the eyes. (142) Thus, for the Yoruba, a verbal description, however vivid, can never match a direct observation. This is illustrated by the popular saying Irohin ko to afojuba (Listening to a report is not the same thing as being an eyewitness). The term aworeriin (look and laugh) often refers to a funny-looking image or a satirical performance, although it may also be applied to a poorly executed portrait that exposes the subject to public derision. Any image or spectacle (such as a performance by Gelede masks) that entertains and educates at the same time is called awokogbon (look and learn). The term awodunnu (look and feel the sweetness in the stomach), on the other hand, refers to a spectacle or image that fills one with joy. Yemoja, a fertility goddess and the source of all waters, is often called Awoyo (literally, the sight that fills the stomach) because of the popular belief that looking at her altar figure or into a pot of sacred water with pebbles from the Ogun River (which is sacred to her) fills her devotees wombs with children. (143) So far, we have dealt with the benefits of looking. What are the positive sides of being looked at, directly, or indirectly through ones portrait Compliments (iyin) from admirers about ones physical endowment, character, taste, dress, or achievements boost ones ego and confidence and may also facilitate social mobility within ones community. One becomes a gbajumo, the Yoruba term for a celebrity, which literally means someone known to two hundred many faces. (144) Since only a few achieve such a status, most people find solace in the possibility of obtaining the spiritual benefits of the gaze from Olodumare (Supreme Being) and the orisa (deities). As a matter of fact, the root verb wo (to gaze or look at) also means to nurture, to look after, or to cure, (145) as evident in the prayer for a newborn child, Olodumare a woo (May the Supreme Being look at or after it). In this context, wo (look at or after) is synonymous with toju (literally, bring up under the eyes), meaning to take care of. A medical facility is lle itoju (literally, a house for health care). A successful treatment is iwosan, a contraction of i (act of), wo (being gazed at), and san (be cured), or iwoye, that is, i (act of), wo (being gazed at), and ye (be saved). In preventive medicine, as mentioned earlier, the portrait of an individual may be kept in a shrine to immunize the subject from infectious diseases or sorcery. Now and then, a woman who conceived and had a child after offering sacrifices to an ancestor or a particular deity may return to its shrine to deposit a votive mother and child figure portraying herself and the child. (146) That such portraits are under the protective gaze of the ancestors or orisa is obvious in popular Yoruba names like Ogunwoo (Iron deity, look after this child) and Sangobamiwoo (Thunder deity, help me to look after this child). The following invocation to Ifa (the divination deity) sheds more light on this phenomenon: Ifa, fix your eyes upon me and look at me well It is when you fix your eyes upon one that he is rich It is when you fix your eyes upon one that he prospers. (147) This type of gaze is called oju rere (the benevolent eye) or oju aanu (the merciful eye). (148) It follows, therefore, that the Yoruba altar, called ojubo (literally, face of the worshiped), functions as a kind of mask that facilitates ifojukoju, namely, a face-to-face communion between the worshiper and the worshiped, enabling the latter to appreciate the oriki (eulogy) rendered in its honor. (149) It is worth noting that the most sacred symbol of a deity--an organic substance or a collection of charms--is usually concealed inside a wooden bowl with a face carved on it to provide an ocular outlet for its content (Fig. 24). Such a face also implicates Esu the agent of sight and receiver and courier of all the sacrifices offered to a deity. (150) This brings us to the consequences of being looked at in a negative manner. To begin with, any transgression of the social, moral, or dress codes often attracts frowns (ibojuje), uncomplimentary remarks (eebu), and such actions as may affect ones reputation or career. However, the gaze most feared by the Yoruba is that of an aje (a woman with mystical powers) or an oso (her male counterpart), whose oju okan (minds eye) is deemed to have both beneficent and maleficent aspects. Its maleficent aspect, called oju oro (poisonous eye) or oju buruku (evil eye) generates--according to popular belief--enigmatic rays that penetrate the victims body, either directly or through a portrait, causing high blood pressure, mental derangement, malignant sores and tumors, paralysis of the limbs, infertility in men and women, epileptic seizures, and debilitating diseases, among other effects. Anyone who dies suddenly after complaining of seeing strange faces in dreams is suspected of being a victim of awopa (literally, killer gaze). This term is also used sarcastically for an incompetent doctor (known for wrong diagnoses) and whose patients are more likely to die than survive their illnesses. (151) Aiwoo. The Politics of Image Concealment The emphasis on observable representations in the current discourse of the gaze tends to ignore a practice common in sub-Saharan Africa whereby images are deliberately concealed to stress their ontological significance or affecting presence. (152) For instance, among the Baule of Cote dlvoire, as Susan Vogel has observed, the act of looking at a work of art, or at spiritually significant objects, is for the most part privileged and potentially dangerous. The power and danger of looking lie in a belief that objects are potent, capable of polluting those who see them. (153) The Yoruba have a similar concept, as expressed in the popular admonition Eni to ba wo iwokuwo, yo ri irikuri (Whoever looks at the forbidden will see the fearful). In other words, delightful as looking may be on certain occasions, it could be fraught with danger at times. This is because eyin oju, the refractive egg called the eyeball, could weaken or be extinguished like a lamp if exposed to the sight of the forbidden, which. in Yoruba thought, may range from ghosts to potent charms and images. Such phenomena are called awofoju (literally, look and be blinded) or awoku (literally, look and die), depending on the mystical powers attributed to them. (154) Only initiates or those whose eyes are ritually protected may safely look. The images in this category derive their mystique partly from folklore and partly from the fact that they are frequently covered up when displayed in broad daylight. For example, before being taken out of the shrine for a special ceremony in the forest, the stone images of the creativity deity Obatala (right) and his consort Yemoo (left) are wrapped in white cloth (Fig. 25). Tradition requires that the bearers of the images chant a special incantation, which, as Phillips Stevens puts it, will cause the images to become lighter and their bearers more comfortable. If the incantation is not sung with a will, or if it is neglected entirely, the bearer of the images will tire and become weak. (155) Conscious of the onlookers, who keep a safe distance, the bearers often turn the occasion into a performance, using cadence and body language to dramatize the sacredness and heaviness of the wrapped images. Whenever an exceptionally potent image is to be exposed in a public ritual that takes place mostly at night, a curfew is usually in force. During the event a voice warns intermittently, Dont look at it Aiwoo You see it, you die Wori, Woku Dont look at it Aiwoo. This is particularly the case with the Agan, a mythological being that comes out on the eve of the annual festival of masks (Odun Egungun) honoring the Living Dead. The Agan image (sometimes represented by a bundle of charms, a carving, a masked figure, or spirit medium) is enveloped in darkness and closely guarded by attendants holding whips. As the procession approaches an area, the residents are cautioned to put out all the lights within and outside their houses to ensure total darkness. Now and then, an eerie voice cuts through the night, followed by a chorus proclaiming the Agans supernatural power. For example: Agans arms are smaller than the sand flys Its tail is not as big as the ants Yet 1,460 men lifted Agan And could not lift it to knee level. (156) One divination verse hints at the dire consequences of spying on the Agan: Do not set your eyes on me No one looks at the Orombo (157) If the Agan comes Out in daytime Trees will fall upon trees palms will fall upon one another Forests will be razed to the ground The savannah will burn out completely This is what the Ifa oracle predicted for Mafojukanmi Do-Not-Set-Your-Eyes-on-Me Popularly called Agan. (158) According to Peter Morton-Williams, a British anthropologist who did fieldwork in Yorubaland in the 1950s, the Agan was accompanied by other unlookable beings during the Egungun festival at Ota: It is important here to draw attention to the calculated use of sound effects and picturesque language against the darkness of the night, to project a surreal vision of the unseeable while, at the same time, denying the people confined indoors access to its material representation. (160) The ultimate aim is to control visual behavior and instill a reverential fear of the sacred so complex that the mere realization that one has seen the forbidden may precipitate the psychosomatic complications popularly associated with awofoju (look and be blinded) or awoku (look and die). My escort to Ota had spent the night with his kinsmen, shut in another house, and he told me the next day that they had all been very much afraid, for they believed that Agan and Mariwo had magic which enable d them to see and attack anyone they wanted, wherever he was hidden in a house. On the last night of the festival, there is again a terrifying incursion, under the same conditions, with people locked in their houses with lights extinguished. This visitation is of Aranta. The Aranta is said to be accompanied by the voice of many animals and birds, and the sound of witchcraft, made with a variety of voice-disguisers. (159) New Forms, Old Values: Contemporary Developments Since the turn of the twentieth century, Yorubaland, like other parts of Africa, has been witnessing unprecedented cultural, political, and economic transformations due to the impact of Western education, modern technology, and increasing urbanization. Yet many Yoruba have not totally abandoned their ancient customs. Mass conversion to Islam and Christianity, both of which associate traditional sculpture with paganism, has led some Yoruba to adopt new forms as camouflage in order to continue with those indigenous values to which they are still emotionally attached. While modern photography has encouraged a good majority to record important events in their lives through individual and family portraits, the fear lingers that a printed image is susceptible to sympathetic magic. Hence, individuals keep their photograph albums in a secure place to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Some Yoruba herbalists advise that one should hold ones breath while posing for a photograph to immunize the image again st sorcery. Photographs now play major roles in a number of public and private ceremonies, either alone or in conjunction with sculptures carved in the traditional style. The image on the lap of the seated woman in Figure 26 (carved by Ajayi Ibuke in 1970) represents the current king of Oy6, Alaafin Oba Lamidi Adeyemi II, who is required to be present, in spirit but not in person, at certain public ceremonies intended to promote the social and spiritual well-being of his subjects. I took this picture in Oyo in 1972 at the grand finale of the annual festival in honor of Sango, one of the ancient kings of Old Oyo who was deified and is now associated with thunder power (Fig. 18). The carved image has a photograph of Oba Adeyemi attached to stress his liminal role as a living representative of Sango on earth. (161) All the important guests arriving at the venue bowed before the photo-sculptural image of Oba Adeyemi, and during the ceremony it was the focus of attention. The drummers, dancers, and Sango-possession priests performed before it most of the time. During the intervals, praise singers entered the performance arena, moving back and forth in front of the image and chant ing the kings oriki (eulogy). The audience responded intermittently with Ka-bi-ye-si (Long live the king). At the end of the ceremony, the chief possession priest faced the image, as if it were the king himself, and wished him good health, long life, and the continued blessing of Sango. In fact, when not in use, this carved portrait is usually kept inside the Sango temple in the Koso area of town, an act that metaphorically places the king (Oba Adeyemi) under the divine and protective gaze of Sango. Enlarged photographs are now a popular substitute for carved effigies in second-burial ceremonies, being buried in the same manner as the effigies. (162) In some cases, a second-burial memorial for a hunter (ipade) may be no more than an assemblage of flintlocks, hunting dress, hat, and charms, in front of which is displayed a photograph of the deceased. Those who can afford the expenses now commission naturalistic, Western-type memorials in cement, stone, or marble in honor of deceased parents. (163) Yet, in times of crisis, these memorials often double as shrines for clandestine rituals enlisting the spiritual aid of the dead. There is a peculiar use of photography in twin rituals that denies the specificity of its naturalism in order to emphasize the oneness in the twoness of twins. For instance, if one of the pair should die without leaving behind a photographic image, the surviving twin is photographed in the dress of the deceased, becoming its proxy in the photograph, whether or not they are identical. This photographic image thereafter serves as a means of maintaining the twins togetherness in life and death. If the twins are of the same sex, the photographer sometimes exposes the image of the surviving twin twice on the same paper, so that the living and the dead (represented by the living) appear to be sitting side by side in the print. But if the twins are of the opposite sex, the surviving twin is photographed in a male dress and then in a females. The two images are eventually combined in the final print as if the twins had posed together (Fig. 27). (164) Such photographs are thought to have spiritual powers and are som etimes placed in shrines, receiving offerings of food like the carved statuettes. (165) As Marilyn Houlberg observed in the field, The life of the survivor is said to depend on the existence and veneration of the photograph, just as it would be in the case of a wood image. (166) Through this photomontage technique, contemporary Yoruba photographers perpetuate old values in new forms, especially the tradition of deemphasizing individual identity for a collective one, which, in the case of twins, affirms their sameness. In sum, despite the impact of Western aesthetics and modern technology on the Yoruba, they have not completely given up their belief in the ontological, mnemonic, and ritual significance of aworan (representation). Art in the traditional styles continues to be made, though it is gradually being modified to reflect the dynamics of change. Naturalistic portraits of living persons (in oil painting and other media) are now a commonplace in Yorubaland, due, in part, to a growing acceptance of the documentary function of modern photography and, in part, to a significant decline in the fear of sorcery, especially among the elites in the urban areas. Sometimes, as we have seen in twin memorials, the physical likeness inherent in photography may be ignored to make it serve a conceptual and ritual function, so that the same form may be duplicated to represent the self and its metaphysical Other. In short, a strong belief in an interface of the visible and invisible, the tangible and intangible, the known and unknown ma kes it evident that the act of looking and seeing in Yoruba culture is much more than a perception of objects by use of the eyes. It is a social experience as well, involving, on the one hand, a delicate balance of culturally determined modes of perceiving and interpreting reality and, on the other, individual reactions to specific images and spectacles. The first version of this article (titled Beyond Physiognomy: The Signifying Face in Yoruba Art and Thought) was presented at a special session of the African Studies Workshop, University of Chicago, Jan. 27, 1998. I am grateful to Ralph Austen, Andrew Apter, Fredrika Jacobs, Howard Risatti, Robert Hobbs, Sharon Hill, Allan Roberts, Polly Nooter Roberts, and the anonymous Art Bulletin readers for their thoughtful comments. Special thanks are due to John T. Paoletti and Perry Chapman for their criticisms, insights, and suggestions, Lory Frankel for her meticulous copyediting, and Ulli Beier, George Chemeche, Justine Cordwell, Ron Epps, Robin Poynor, Robert Farris Thompson, Frank Willett, and Richard Woodward for photographic assistance. I would also like to acknowledge the research support provided by the Faculty Grant-in-Aid and the School of the Arts Research Leave programs, Virginia Commonwealth University. Translations are mine unless otherwise indicated. (1.) See Babatunde Lawal, The Role of Art in Orisa Worship among the Yoruba, in Proceedings of the First World Congress of Orisa Tradition, ed. Wande Abimbola (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Department of African Languages and Literatures, University of Ife, 1981), 318-25. Whereas aworan is a generic term for all artistic representations, the word ere refers to an image in the round, that is, a piece of sculpture. The word ere denotes an intricate design or pattern, although it is also used to describe a tour de force manifested in the visual and performing arts. (2.) For example, awo means plate awo, fishing net and awo, secrecy. (3.) See also A Dictionary of the Yoruba Language (Lagos: Oxford University Press, 1968) and R. C. Abraham, Dictionary of Modern Yoruba (London: University of London Press, 1958). (4.) Richard Brilliant, Portraiture (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1991), 11. (5.) See Samuel Johnson, The History of the Yorubas from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the British Protectorates (Lagos: Church Missionary Society, 1921) Saburi 0. Biobaku, ed. Sources of Yoruba History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973) Wande Abimbola, ed. Yoruba Oral Tradition (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Department of African Languages and Literatures, University of Ife, 1975) Toyin Falola, ed. Yoruba Historiography (Madison, Wis. University of Wisconsin Press, 1991) and Abiodun et al. In his extensive study of oral tradition in Africa and other parts of the world, Jan Vansina has demonstrated that, while they may not be as reliable as written documentation, oral traditions embody a message from the past and so can contribute much to the reconstruction of the past, provided that they are used with caution and correlated with independent evidence. See Vansina, Oral Tradition as History Madison, Wis. University of Wisconsin Press, 1985) and idem, Art History in Africa (London: Longman, 1984). (6.) The citys name Ife is an abbreviation of Ile-Ife, meaning the place from where civilization spread to other lands. The two names are used interchangeably in the literature on Yoruba art. For consistency, I use Ife throughout this article, except in quoted passages and bibliographic references. (7.) Notwithstanding the fact that they spoke different dialects of the same language, each kingdom was independent of the other and identified by a distinct name. The term Yoruba formerly applied only to the Oyo subgroup. However, after the British colonization of Nigeria in the 19th century, the term was used to categorize all the kingdoms speaking the same language as the Oyo. For a good introduction to the history and culture of the Yoruba, see G. J. Afolabi Ojo, Yoruba Culture: A Geographical Analysis (London: University of London Press, 1966) and Robert S. Smith, Kingdoms of the Yoruba, 3d ed. (Madison, Wis. University of Wisconsin Press, 1988). For a comprehensive survey of Yoruba art, see Robert F. Thompson, Black Gods and Kings, Yoruba Art at U. C.L. A. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971) and Drewal et al. (8.) J. Olumide Lucas, The Religion of the Yorubas (Lagos: Church Missionary Society, 1948), 93-97 Ulli Beier, The Historical and Psychological Significance of Yoruba Myths, Odu, Journal of Yoruba and Related Studies I (1955): 19-22 and Idowu, 25-27. For details, see Biodun Adediran, The Early Beginnings of the Ife State, in Akinjogbin, 77. (9.) For details, see John Wyndham, Myths of Ife (London: Erskine Macdonald, 1921), 13-34 Phillips Stevens, Orisa-Nla Festival, Nigeria Magazine, no. 90 (1966): 187 Idowu, 18-27 Fabunmi, 6-7 Smith (as in n. 7), 14 and Isola Olomola, Ife before Oduduwa, in Akinjogbin, 51-61. (10.) Adediran (as in n.8), 90 and Isaac Akinjogbin, The Growth of Ife from Oduduwa to 1800, in Akinjogbin, 98. (11.) For details, see Abiodun A. Adediran and Samuel A. Arifalo, The Religious Festivals of Ife, in Akinjogbin, 305-17 and Joel Adedaji, Folklore and Yoruba Drama: Obatala as a Case Study, in African Folklore, ed. Richard M. Dorson (Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University Press, 1972), 321-39. See also Blier, 3, 386. (12.) For a review of the evidence, see Robin C. Law, The Heritage of Oduduwa Traditions: History and Political Propaganda, Journal of African History 14, no. 2 (1973): 207-22 Ade Obayemi, The Yoruba and EdoSpeaking Peoples and Their Neighbours before 1600, in History of West Africa, ed. J. F.A. Ajayi and Michael C. Crowder, vol. 1 (London: Longman, 1971), 196-263 Isola Olomola, The Eastern Yoruba Country before Oduduwa: A Reassessment, in The Proceedings of the Conference on Yoruba Civilization, ed. Isaac A. Akinjogbin and G. 0. Ekemode (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Department of History, University of Ife, 1976), 34-73 Ulli Baler, Before Oduduwa, Odu, Journal of Yoruba and Related Studies 3 (1956): 25-42 Robin Horton, Ancient Ife: A Reassessment, Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 9, no. 4 (1979): 69-150 and Samuel 0. Arifalo, Egbe Omo Oduduwa: Structure and Strategy, Odu, Journal of West African Studies, n, s. Nein. 21 (1981): 73-96. To further reinforce the Omo Oduduwa doctrine, the Yoruba al so call themselves Omo e kaaro, e o ji ire (Those who love to say, Good morning, did you wake up well)--alluding to the emphasis on courtesy in their culture. The quest for social harmony is emphasized in the proverb E kaaro e o ji ire ki i somo iya ija (figuratively, Good neighborliness and quarrelsomeness are not compatible). (13.) Idowu, 71. This prayer is necessary because Obatala is characterized in some myths as a habitual drinker who, when drunk, creates albinos, hunchbacks, cripples, and other disfigured persons. (14.) For details, see Wande Abimbola, Iwapele: The Concept of Good Character in Ifa Literary Corpus, in Abimbola (as in n. 5), 389-418 Lawal, 1974, 239-49 Rowland Abiodun, Identity and Artistic Process in Yoruba Aesthetic Concept of Iwa, Journal of Culture and Ideas 1 no, 1 (1983): 13-30 and idem, The Future of African Studies: An African Perspective, in African Studies: The Future of the Discipline, Symposium Organized by the National Museum of African Art (Washington, D. C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990), 63-89. (15.) The identification of the female body with procreation was probably responsible for the taboo in the past that a woman should not engage in sculpture because it might interfere with her reproductive power. Hence, only postmenopausal women were allowed to do figurative pottery. Although this taboo is still strong in rural Yorubaland, it is no longer honored by the Western-educated Yoruba in the urban areas, who now allow their daughters to specialize in sculpture in art school. (16.) See Beier, 19-20. Another Yoruba word for mother is iye or yeye, which means, according to several field informants, the one who laid me ye like an egg. Because of the tonal nature of the Yoruba language, it is significant to note that while ya means to visualize or fashion in any medium. ya means to draw. I am grateful to several Yoruba artists for the ideas expressed in this paragraph, most especially, Michael Labode of Idofoyi, Ayetoro, Ganiyu Sekoni Doga of Imeko (both interviewed in 1971), Ajayi Ibuke of Oyo (interviewed in 1972-73), Gbetu Asude of Ife (interviewed in 1971) and George Bamidele of Osi Ekiti (interviewed in 1973). (17.) The carver Ganiyu Sekoni Doga of Imeko drew my attention to a cognate term, arogbe, a contraction of a (act of), ro (to think or imagine). and gbe (to carve). (18.) The Earth Goddess is frequently represented on the altar as a pair of male and female figures to symbolize her androgynous nature and the fact that she transcends the manifestation of gender in the physical world. For more details, see Babatunde Lawal, A YA GBO, A YA TO: New Perspectives on Edan Ogboni, African Arts 28, no. 1 (1995): 36-49, 98-100 Peter Morton-Williams, An Outline of the Cosmology of the Oyo Yoruba, Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 34 (1964): 243-60 and E. Roache-Selk, From the Womb of the Earth: An Appreciation of Yoruba Bronze Art (Washington, D. C. University Press of America, 1978). (19.) Although Yoruba artists have produced works in various media, ranging from clay and ivory to stone, iron, and brass, a good majority of them are in wood. This is partly because wood is easy to sculpt and partly because much of Yorubaland lies in the rain-forest zone with abundant trees for carving. (20.) For more details, see Peter Lloyd, Craft Organizations in Yoruba Towns, Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 23 (1953): 30-44 and Abiodun et al. (21.) Abiodun, 1990 (as in n. 14), 76-77. (22.) See also Kevin C. Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1967), 94-95 and Tunde Akinyemi, Ise Ona Sise, in Ise Isenbaye, ed. T. M. Ilesanmi (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo University Press. 1989), 257-59. (23.) I am especially grateful to indigenous carvers suds as George Bamidele of Osi Ekiti, Ajayi Ibuke of Oyo, and Ganiyu Sekoni Doga of Imeko for their hospitality during my fieldwork. For more information on ase, see Pierre Verger, The Yoruba High God: A Review of the Sources, Odu, University of Ife Journal of African Studies 2, no. 2 (1966): 19-40 and Rowland Abiodun, Understanding Yoruba Art and Aesthetics: The Concept of Ase, African Arts 27, no. 3 (1994): 68-78, 102-3. (24.) For more information on oriki, see Chief J. A. Ayorinde, Oriki, in Biobaku (as in n. 5), 63-76 Bolanle Awe, Notes on Oriki and Warfare in Yorubaland in Abimbola (as in n. 5), 267-92 and Karen Barber, I Could Speak until Tomorrow: Oriki, Women, and the Past in a Yoruba Town (Washington, D. C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991). (25.) Wande Abimbola, Ifa: An Exposition of Ifa Literary Corpus (Ibadan, Nigeria: Oxford University Press, 1976), 133-34 (trans.). Yoruba text: Bi mo ba lowo lowo Ori ni n o ro fun Ori mi iwo ni Bi mo ba bimo laye Orin ni n o ro fun Ori mi iwo ni Ire gbogbo u mo ba ni laye Ori ni n o ro fun Ori mi iwo ni. (26.) For more details, see Babatunde Lawal, Orilonise: The Hermeneutics of the Head and Hairstyles among the Yoruba, in Hair in African Art and Culture, ed. Roy Sieber and Frank Herreman (New York: Museum of African Art Munich: Prestel, 2000), 93-109. (27.) Olabiyi B. Yai, In Praise of Metonymy: The Concepts of Tradition and Creativity in the Transmission of Yoruba Artistry over Time and Space, in Abiodun et al. 107. (28.) For details, see Babatunde Lawal, Ori: The Significance of the Head in Yoruba Sculpture, Journal of Anthropological Research 41, no. 1 (1985): 91-103. (29.) For more on Esu, see Idowu, 78-83 Joan Wescott, The Sculpture and Myths of Eshu-Elegba, the Yoruba Trickster, Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 32, no. 4 (1962): 337-54: Juana E. dos Santos and Deoscoredes dos Santos, Esu Bara Laroye (Ibadan, Nigeria: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, 1971) and John Pemberton, Eshu-Elegba: The Yoruba Trickster God, African Arts 9, no. 1 (1975): 20-27, 66-70, 90-91. (30.) Wande Abimbola, The Yoruba Concept of Human Personality, in La notion de personne en Afrique: Colloques internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, no. 544 (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1971), 80. See also Lawal (as in n. 28), 91-103 and Rowland Abiodun, Verbal and Visual Metaphors: Mythical Allusions in Yoruba Ritualistic Art of Ori, Word and Image, Journal of Verbal-Visual Inquiry 3, no. 3 (1987): 252-70. (31.) Christopher L. Adeoye, Asa ati Ise Yoruba (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 30. (32.) In the Yoruba language, the word oju refers to both the face and the eye the eyeball is eyin oju (the egg of the eye). The face, as used in this article, also implicates the eyes, except when it is necessary to differentiate the one from the other. (33.) William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication between Men an Gods in West Africa (Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University Press, 1969), 159. (35.) See also Nathaniel Fadipe, The Sociology of the Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press, 1970), 285-86. (36.) Philip Allison, African Stone Sculpture (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1968), 21. (37.) Labolarinde is the name of the individual being asked to go and look for Esus figure at the city gate. (38.) Pierre Verger, Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun a Bahia, la Baie de tous les Saints, au Bresil et a lAncienne Cote des Esclaves en Afrique (Dakar, Senegal: IFAN, 1957), 127. Yoruba text: A le kuru A le ga O nlo ninu epa atari re nhan firifiri Opelope giga ti o ga Esu ni o gun ori aro ni o fi bu iyo si obe. Labolarinde, ti o ba de bode ti o ko ba ba ni enu odi ni nro oko On na ni o da oko nibiti arugbo le de. See also Pemberton (as in n. 29), 25 Beier, 28 and Adeoye (as in n. 31), 32. (39.) For the Yoruba, iwa has two aspects, the external and internal the one has to do with physical appearance, and the other with character. Both aspects are taken into consideration in the assessment of an individuals beauty (ewa). For instance, a person with a beautiful body but who has an unpleasant character is regarded as no more than a wooden doll, whereas the popular saying asserts, Iwa Iewa (Character determines beauty). For details, see Lawal, 1974, 239-49. (40.) Robert F. Thompson, Yoruba Artistic Criticism, in The Traditional Artist in African Society, ed. Warren L. dAzevedo (Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University Press, 1973), 32. (41.) For more on the Yoruba concept of the spirit double, see Raymond Prince, Indigenous Yoruba Psychiatry, in Magic, Faith and Healing, ed. Ari Kiev (New York: Free Press, 1964), 93-94 and Idowu, 173. In the case of twins (ibeji), some Yoruba believe that an individual has been born along with his or her spirit double. For details, see Marilyn Houlberg, Ibeji Images of the Yoruba, African Arts 7, no. 1 (1973): 20-27, 91. (42.) Frequently, the patient may be given some herbal mixture to drink or an amulet to wear on the body to link the portrait with the portrayed. (43.) Informants wish to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of the materials. According to them, to prevent abortion or premature delivery, for instance, a piece of twine may be wound around the belly of an image representing the patient. This ritual is called oyun dide (tying of pregnancy). The twine would be removed a few weeks before the baby was due, otherwise, normal delivery would be impossible. In sorcery, the same method may be used to delay or postpone delivery indefinitely. That is why any woman with an unusually long pregnancy is advised to consult diviners to help trace the cause. A patient with persistent or chronic body pain is sometimes given a small effigy to be kept very close to the body so that the pain can transfer into it. After a while, the effigy is thrown into a river to cool the pain. Gagging an effigy may cause the subject to stammer or become incoherent or speechless. This is called edi (muzzling). Another form of edi involves binding up an effigys limbs with a string to hamper movement or cause paralysis. William Fagg illustrates a bound figure in his book Miniature Wood Carvings of West Africa (Greenwich, Conn. New York Graphic Society, 1970), pl. 24, although, according to him, the function of the string is unknown. An image with a swollen leg or scrotum is expected to cause elephantiasis, though the same image may be used to effect a cure. In a special ritual called apeta (invoke and shoot) or apepa (invoke and kill), a clay effigy is procured and then shot at with a gun or poisoned arrow. The subject is expected to die sooner or later. Among the Fon of the Republic of Benin, power images variously called bocio (bo, charm, and cio, corpse) and atin vle gbeto (atin, wood, vle, resembling, and gbeto, human being) perform similar functions. Some bocio are portraits of specific individuals, while others represent personified nature forces. For details, see Suzanne P. Blier, African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995). (44.) Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes This World: Mischief Myth, and Art (New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1998), 7-10. See also Lawal, 1974, 242-43. (45.) Timothy A. Awoniyi, Omoluwabi: The Fundamental Basis of Yoruba Traditional Education, in Abimbola (as in n. 5), 379. (46.) Idowu, 11 and Fabunmi, 8. (47.) As cautioned in the popular proverb: Bi isu eni ba tu, nse ni a a f owo bo o je (After cooking a good yam, one must cover ones mouth while eating it). In other words, to avoid the jealousy of the have-nots, one must not parade ones good fortune in public. See J. O. Ajibola, Owe Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: Oxford University Press, 1979), 63. (48.) In the past, physiognomy was considered an important aspect of portraiture in the West. For a review of the literature, see Hans P. LOrange, Apotheosis in Ancient Portraiture (1947 reprint, New Rochelle, N. Y. Caratzas Brothers, 1982) Flavio Caroli, Storia della Fisiognomica: Arte e psicologia da Leornado a Freud (Milan: Leonardo, 1995) Christopher Rivers, Face Value: Physiognomical Thought and the Legible Body in Marivaux, Lavater, Balzac, Gauthier, and Zola (Madison, Wis. University of Wisconsin Press, 1994) Fredrika Jacobs, Defining the Renaissance Virtuosa: Women Artists and the Language of Art History and Criticism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997) Jennifer Montagu, The Expression of the Passions: The Origin and Influence of Charles Le Bruns Conference sun lexpression generale et particuliere (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994) Ernst H. Gombrich, The Mask and the Face: The Perception of Physiognomic Likeness in Life and Art, in Art, Perception and Reality, ed. Ernst H. Gombrich, Julian Hochberg, and Max Black (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), 1-46 and Joanna Woodall, ed. Portraiture: Facing the Subject (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997). See also Daniel P. Biebuyck, ed. Tradition and Creativity in Tribal Art (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969) and Robert F. Thompson, African Art in Motion (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974). (49.) A second-burial figure is called ako if it represents a deceased chief or community leader and ipade if it represents a deceased hunter. However, the ipade may also represent those who are not hunters, including women. See P. O. Ogunbowale, Asa Ibile Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: Oxford University Press, 1966), 60-61. (50.) The following song sung during an ako display in Owo is also significant: May I be privileged to bury my father May I be privileged to bury my father Despite all evil machinations Despite all evil farces I will carry my father through the path of honour. See Abiodun, 10-11. Note the oriki for deceased twins cited below at n. 105. (51.) For more information on second-burial images, see Justine Cordwell, Naturalism and Stylization in Yoruba Art, Magazine of Art 46 (1953): 220-25 Willett, 1966, 34-45 Abiodun, 4-20 Babatunde Lawal, The Living Dead: Art and Immortality among the Yoruba, Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 47, no. 1 (1977): 50-61 and Robin Poynor, Ako Figures of Owo and Second Burials in Southern Nigeria, African Arts 21, no. 1 (1988): 62-63, 81-83, 86-87. (52.) Abiodun, 14-15. In other cases, the child, clad in the best dress of the deceased (regardless of whether the dress is Oversize), is led around the town, functioning like a living effigy. If the deceased was a chief, the human surrogate would be greeted, addressed, and paid the same respects as one. However, the human surrogate is not buried like an effigy. See Lawal (as in n. 51), 52. (53.) Abiodun, 11 (trans.). Yoruba text: Oronaye o Wa na ire Wa a bero toli o Oluda iramen. Agada mimi ye rekun eje Urogho ola Ba mi le esule o Oma owootoon woosin ogho Urogho ola, ha mi le esule o. (54.) Yoruba text: Majokunrun Majekolo Ohun ti won nje lajule orun Ni ki o ba won je O di gbere O di arinako O di oju ala Ki a to rira. For variants of this dirge, see Bade Ajuwon, Funeral Dirges of Yoruba Hunters (New York: Nok, 1982), 66-67 and Babatunde Olatunji, Asa Isinku ati Ogun Jije, in Iwe Asa Ibile Yoruba, ed. Oludare Olajubu (Ikeja, Nigeria: Longman, 1978), 77-78. (55.) To the Yoruba, the souls of those who died prematurely do not go directly to the Afterlife (Ehin-Iwa). Such souls may relocate in foreign lands, reincarnate in bodies identical to those interred, and continue to live like normal human beings. Some reincarnated souls (akudaaya) may even remarry and have children. For details, see William Bascom, The Yoruba Concept of the Soul, in Men end Cultures, ed. A. F.C. Wallace (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960), 401-10. (56.) For more information on second-burial images, see Cordwell (as in n. 51), 220-25 Willett, 1966, 34-45 Abiodun, 4-20 Lawal (as in n. 51), 50-61 and Poynor (as in n. 51). (57.) Willett, 1966, 37. See also Abiodun, 14-15. (58.) Frank Willet, A Further Shrine for a Hunter, Man 65 (1965): 66. (59.) For an illustration, see Ajuwon (as in n. 54), 132, 133. (60.) These face marks identify an individual with a particular family or lineage. For illustrations, see Lawal (as in n. 51), pl. 1. Two different views of the image are illustrated in this article. (61.) See, for example, Cordwell (as in n. 51), 220-25 Willett, 1967, 26-27 and Eyo and Willett, 34. The German anthropologist Leo Frobenius was the first to bring the Ife heads to the attention of Western scholars in the early years of the 20th century. See Frobenius, The Voice of Africa (1913 reprint, New York: Benjamin Bloom, 1968). (62.) Cordwell (as in n. 51), 224 Willett, 1967, 23, 26-27 and Eyo and Willett, 34. (63.) See, for example, Rowland Abiodun, review of African Art and Leadership, ed. Douglas Fraser and Herbert M. Cole, Odd, n. s. 10 (1974): 138 and Henry J. Drewal, Ife: Origins of Art and Civilization, in Drewal et al. 66-67. (64.) Drewal (as in n. 63), 66-67. (65.) Akinjogbin, Ife: The Years of Travail, 1793-1893, in Akinjogbin, 148-49. (66.) Ironically, even though abobaku is a commonly used term, it is forbidden to say openly that a king (oba) has died (ku). Rather, one must use the euphemism obawaja, meaning the king has ascended the roof to join his ancestors. (67.) See Idowu, 224-25. According to the legend, the next king was so angry with the plotters that he ordered their execution, including all the court artists involved. See also Willett, 1967, 150. (68.) The fact that the crowns worn by some of the Ife brass and terra-cotta heads do not appear to have a beaded veil (Fig. 1) may indicate that between the 12th and 15th centuries, ancient Ife kings did not cover their face when appearing in public. If so, it would he unnecessary to conceal the face of their second-burial figures. However, the absence of a veil on the crown worn by this figure cannot be taken as incontrovertible evidence that the kings of the time appeared in public without veils. From the dress of the figure, it is evident that beaded ornaments formed an important part of the royal regalia at this time. Indeed, the Are crown, said to predate the arrival of Oduduwa in Ife, had a veil, though it is uncertain whether it was made of heads (see Adediran as in n. 8, 84-86 an Are crown is illustrated in Omotoso Eluyemi, Oba Adesoji Aderemi: 50 Years in the History of Ile-Ife Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Ogunbiyi Printing Press, 1980, pl. 25). The Oduduwa dynasty is credited with introducing the bead-em broidered crown with veil and bird motifs to the Yoruba. But according to Olomola (as in n, 12), 56-57, the Oduduwa dynasty would seem to have simply used a preexisting design as a model for its beaded crown. The question then arises: Is the absence of a beaded veil on the crown worn by many of the Ife (post-Oduduwa) king figures due to the technical problems of modeling the veil in clay and casting it in brass Alternatively, the type of crown worn by a good majority of the Ife figures may very well belong to the category of coronets called orikogbofo (casual headgear) worn by the king within the palace, when his face was uncovered. (69.) Bode Osanyin, A Cross-road of History, Legend and Myth: The Case of the Origin of Adamuorisa, in The Masquerade in Nigerian History and Culture: Proceedings of a Workshop, September 7-14, 1980, ed. Nwanna Nzewunwa (School of Humanities, University of Portharcourt, Portharcourt, Nigeria, 1982, mimeographed), 411-14. One legend traces its origin to the 17th century during the reign of Oba (king) Addo, while another claims that it began in the 18th century when Oba Ologun Kutere was on the throne. (71.) Ibid. 410 and Michael J. G. Echeruo, Victorian Lagos: Aspects of Nineteenth Century Lagos Life (London: Macmillan, 1977), 69-70. (72.) As Olumide Lucas (as in n. 8), 145, has observed, Even the Oba the reigning king. may himself be an Eyo masquerade on that day. Since the 1940s, the function of the Adamuorisa festival has been expanded. Whereas in the past it was staged to honor only kings, chiefs, and members of the royal family, today it may also be staged to honor distinguished citizens of Lagos and to mark important events. See Osanyin (as in n. 69), 433. (73.) Jacob Egharevba, A Short History of Benin (Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press, 1960), 12. According to Egharevba, this tradition stopped when Oba Oguola (who reigned in the 13th-14th century) requested the king of Ife to send a brass caster to teach Benin artists how to cast in metal. An Ife brass caster called Iguehae was later sent to Benin City. See also Willett, 1967, 132 and Paula G. Ben-Amos, The Art of Benin, rev. ed. (Washington, D. C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995), 20-25. (74.) Nathaniel A. Fadipe, The Sociology of the Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: Ibadan University Press, 1970), 206. (76.) For a review of the Ife king list, see Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 96-121. (77.) Adediran (as in n. 8), 90 and Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 96-97. (78.) Adediran (as in n. 8), 91 and Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 96-97. Alaafin (owner of the palace), the Oyo title for the king, evidently derives from olofin, which is said to have been first used by Oduduwa. (79.) Adediran (as in n. 8), 91-93. Until recently, some scholars had assumed that it was Obalufon who led the Igbo raids on Ife because he had been deposed by Oranmiyan (see, for instance, Adedeji as in n. 11, 326-27, quoting J. O. Abiri and Blier, 388-89, quoting Adedeji). But, as Adediran (ibid.) and Fabunmi, 17, have pointed Out, the defeat of the Igbo occurred during the second reign of Obalufon (Alayemoore), when the Ife heroine Moremi allowed herself to he captured by the Igbo. She later married the Igbo king, acquired knowledge of the Igbo war strategies, and then escaped. She returned to Ife and revealed these strategies to Obalufon, and the Igbo were routed when next they raided Ife. See also Duro Ladipo, Moremi (Lagos: Macmillan, 1971). (80.) For a comprehensive review of Ife art and culture, see Willett, 1967. (81.) Fabunmi, 10-11. See also Adediran (as in n. 8), 90-91 and Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 98-99, 105. (82.) See Blier, 385-90. According to Frank Willett, 1967 (150), the Obalufon mask might have been worn by somebody masquerading as the king, possibly playing the role of Obalufon at certain ceremonies. (83.) Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 99. (84.) Willett, 1967, 57, 150 and Sir Adesoji Aderemi, Notes on the City of Ife, Nigeria Magazine 12 (1937): 3-6. (85.) Johnson (as in n. 5), 3-8 and Saburi O. Biobaku, The Orgin of the Yoruba, Humanities Monograph Series, no. 1 (Lagos: University of Lagos, 1971), 8-13. (86.) See Johnson (as in n. 5), 59. (87.) Akinjogbin (as in n. 10), 104. According to some accounts, Debooye later succeeded her father, although others claim that she became king not immediately, hut several years later. Only a few female kings are mentioned in the Ife king list, the most famous being Luwo. (88.) At Old Oyo, there was a custom of commissioning a carved, though sylized, portrait of a new king to serve as his surrogate at certain public and private ceremonies. The tradition has survived at present-day Oyo, (see below at n. 161 and Fig. 26). Elsewhere in Africa, among the Kuba of Zaire, it was the practice in the past to make a stylized portrait (ndop) of a new king at the beginning of his reign, which then served as his surrogate on certain occasions. This portrait was also involved in the ritual transfer of royal power from a deceased king to his successor. See Jan Vansina, Ndop: Royal Statues among the Kuba, in African Art and Leadership, ed. Douglas Fraser and Herbert M. Cole (Madison, Wis. University of Wisconsin Press, 1972), 41-55 and Monni Adams, 18th Century Kuba King Figures, African Arts 21, no. 3 (1988): 32-38, 88. (89.) See Willett, 1967, 28-30 and idem, Stylistic Analysis and the Identification of Artists Workshops in Ancient Ife, in Abiodun et al. 49-57. Because of the heads formal and stylistic similarities, Kenneth Murray (Ancient Ife: Letter to the Editor, Odu 9 1963: 71-80) has suggested that a good majority might have been made by one or two artists within a short period. Agreeing with Murray, Blier, 395-99, is of the opinion that, given the fact that most of the heads resemble the Oba1ufon mask (Fig. 14). they may very well be associated with that famous ruler. (90.) The leading Yoruba historian Isaac Adeagbo Akinjogbin refers to the Omo Oduduwa concept as the Ebi Commonwealth that is, an extended family. See Isaac A. Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbours, 1708-1818 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 14-17. Some of the Ife heads have striations and raised weals on the face, but we are not sure at the moment that such facial markings refer to particular individuals. Since people with similar facial markings are to be found in the northwestern and northeastern parts of Nigeria, hundreds of miles away from Ife, is it possible that such heads refer to outsiders It is significant, however, that some Yoruba oral traditions identify Oduduwa as coming from the northeastern part of present-day Nigeria. (91.) Jean Borgatti. Portraiture in Africa, African Arts 23, no. 3 (1990): 35-36 see also Borgatti and Richard Brilliant. Likeness and Beyond: Portraits from Africa and the World (New York: Center for African Art. 1990). (92.) For illustrations, see Willett, 1967, colorpls. v, vl, pl. 62. (93.) See Peter S. Garlake, Excavations at Obalaras Land, Ife: An Interim Report, West African Journal of Archaeology 6 (1974): 111--48 and Eyo and Willett, fig. 30. (94.) Garlake (as in n. 93), 1.16. For other representations of diseased persons in Ife art, see Willett, 1967, 63, p1. 40, figs. 7, 8. (95.) Garlake (as in n. 93). (96.) Omotoso Eluyemi, New Terracotta Finds at Oke-Eso, Ife, African Arts 9, no. 1 (1975): 34. See also Willett, 1967, 68. (97.) According to Rowland Abiodun, the heads represented in this basket may be those of strangers, since it was forbidden in ancient times to sacrifice an Owo indigene in local shrines. See Rowland Abiodun, The Kingdom of Owo, in Drewal et al. 101. (98.) For details. see Bahatunde Lawal, From Africa to the New World: Art in Yoruba Religion, in Santeria Aesthetics in Contemporary Latin American Art, ed. Arturo Lindsay (Washington, D. C. Smithsonian Institution Press. 1996), 3-37. (99.) Richard Law. The Oyo Empire, c. 1600-c. 1836: A West African Imperialism us tile Era of tile Atlantic Slave Trade (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1977), 32-33. (100.) Beier, 31. Indeed, the frequency of the equestrian warrior motif in Sangos oriki reflects the critical role played by the cavalry in the heydays of the Old Oyo empire, between the 17th and 19th centuries, when its kings (alaafin) controlled a good part of northern and southwestern Yorubaland. We are also reminded of the importance attached to Sangos apotheosis during the period when his veneration as an ancestor was elevated to a state religion (transforming him into a deity orisa and many Sango priests served as tax collectors or resident governors in tributary kingdoms. For more details, see Law (as in n. 99), 104 and Morton-Williams (as in n. 18). (101.) W. J.T. Mitchell, Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 88-89. He defines imagetext as a work that combines image and text. (102.) Philip Wheelwright. Metaphor and Reality (Bloomington. Ind. Indiana University Press, 1968). 94-95, (103.) Robert F. Thompson, Sons of Thunder, Twin Images of the Yoruba. African Arts 7, no, 3 (1971): 8-9. (104.) For more on Yoruba twin memorials, see ibid. 8-13. 77-80 Houlberg (as in n. 41), 20-27, 91-92 Mareidi Stall, Gert Stoll, and Ulrich Klever, Ibeji: Zwillingsfiguren der YorubaTwin Figures of the Yoruba (Munich: By the authors. 1980) and Babatunde Lawal, A Pair of Ere Ibeji (Twin Statuettes) in the Kresge Art Museum, Kresge Museum Art Bulletin 41, no. 1(1989): 91-103. (105.) According to one Yoruba legend, twins were first born in Yorubaland at Isokun village in Old Oyo. (106.) The Yoruba associate twins with time. colobus monkey because this animal often gives birth to two babies at a time, (107.) Tradition requires mothers of twins to dance frequently in public in honor of their living children or to appease the souls of deceased twins. On suds occasions, they are showered with gifts of all kinds by relatives and onlookers to enable them to meet the expenses of taking care of themselves and the children. (108.) O. Daramola and A. Jeje, Awon Asa ati Orisa Ile Yoruba (Ibadan. Nigeria: Onibon-Oje Book Industries, 1967), 282-83. (109.) According to the myth. the Supreme Being withdrew this privilege, replacing it with death. (110.) See also Idowu. 13. There is a tendency among the Yoruba to regard as embodiments of ancient ancestors sculptures accidentally washed out of the ground by floods or recovered its the course of laying building foundations. Such sculputures are usually placed on altars with a view to harnessing the spiritual power of the souls they represent. The town of Esie, about ninety miles from Ife, has more than eight hundred such stone figures. The present inhabitants of the town claim that their ancestors found the sculptures in the town when they first settled there in the 18th century, so these figures are venerated as petrified aborigines. For more details, see Allison (as in n. 36), 21-24 and Phillips Stevens, The Stone Images of Este, Nigeria (New York: Africana. 1978). (111.) J. A. Ademakinwa, Ife: Time Cradle of the Yoruba (Lagos: Pacific Printing Works, 1953), 40-41. (112.) Idowu, 22 and Fabunmi, fig. 2. (113.) Adegboyega Sobande, Isinku ni Ile Yoruba, Olokun, no.9 (1970): 26. (114.) Cited in Thompson (as in n. 40), 58. Thompsons interviews with several indigenous Yoruba carvers and critics reveal that one of the most important criteria for an ideal sculpture among the Yoruba is that it should represent the subject in the prime of life (see esp. 56-58). I have documented similar comments from carvers in Osi Ekiti, Oyo, and Ayetoro in northeastern, northcentral, and southwestern Yorubaland respectively. Frank Willett (1966, 37) has also observed that an ako second-burial effigy of the late mother of Chief Sasere Adetula of Owo (carved in 1943 by Ogunleye Ologan) represents her as a yotmng woman. The fact that this phenomenon is evident in both naturalistic and stylized portraits shows that it is deeply rooted in indigenous Yoruba aesthetics and cannot be explained solely by the practice of modeling the face of a second-burial effigy after that of a child who closely resembles the deceased. A similar tradition has been recorded in Benin City. According to a legend, King Ewuare of the 15th century once commissioned the royal brass caster and woodcarver guilds to make his portrait. The woodcarvers portrayed him as he really looked in old age, whereas the brass casters depicted him as a much younger man. King Ewuare was displeased with the woodcarvers and demoted them. See Borgatti and Brilliant (as in n. 91), 32, quoting Ben-Amos (as in n. 73). For a discussion of the concept in other parts of Africa, see Thompson (as in n. 48), 5-7. It should be noted, however, that not all Yoruba representations emphasize the prime of life. In the edan ogboni, a pair of male and female brass figures that serves as an emblem of the Ogboni society, the stress is on maturity. It signifies the desire of members for long life and prosperity. See Lawal (as in n. 18), 37-38. (115.) For more on Yoruba twin memorials, see n. 104 above. (117.) See Lawal, 1974, 245. (118.) Illustrated in Lawal, 1996, 236-37. (119.) For more on Yoruba masks, see Drewal et al. passim. (120.) Frank Willett, African Art, rev. ed. (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993). 212-13. (121.) For more on Yoruba crowns, see Robert F. Thompson, The Sign of the Divine King: Yoruba Beaded-Embroidered Crowns with Veil and Bird Decorations, in Fraser and Cole (as in n. 88), 227-60 and Ulli Beier, Yoruba Beaded Crowns: Sacred Regalia of the Olokuku of Okuku (London: Ethnographica, 1982). (122.) Cited in Akinsola Akiwowo, Ajobi and Ajogbe Variations on the Theme of Sociation (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: University of Ife Press, 1983), 11. See also Lawal (as in n. 104), 23-24. (123.) See, for instance, Idowu, 84-85. (124.) Polished stone axes and iron tools are sacred to Ogun, suggesting that the one preceded the other in his iconography. (125.) E. M. Lijadu, Ifa: Imole re ti ise Ipile Isin ni lle Yoruba (Ado Ekiti, Nigeria: Standard Press, 1908), 35. Yoruba text: Nje bi a ba te mi, ngo tun ra mi te Eewo ti a ba ka fun mi, ngo gbo Tite la te mi, ngo tun ra mi te, (126.) Idowu, 60 and Wole Soyinka, Myth. Literature and the African World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 10. (127.) For details, see Karin Barber, How Man Makes God in West Africa: Yoruba Attitudes towards the Orisa, Africa, journal oft 390kyeame Kwame International African Instittute 51, no. 3 (1981): 724-45. (128.) The Omo Oduduwa doctrine assumed a new aspect in 1945 when Yoruba students in London formed the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (Oduduwa Descendants Club), a cultural organization charged with the responsibility of advancing the cause of the Yoruba in colonial Nigerian politics. The organization eventually developed into a political party (the now defunct Action Group) whose membership included non-Yoruba politicians. The leader of the party, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was fond of wearing a special hat that soon became fashionable among his followers, enabling them to project a common identity at party rallies and conventions. See Arifalo (as in n. 12), 72. (129.) Jacques Lacan, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. ed. Jacques-Alain Miller, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York: W. W. Norton, 1981). (130.) Ibid. 67-119. For a recent review of the literature on the gaze, see Margaret Olin, Gaze, in Critical Terms far Art History, ed. Robert F. Nelson and Richard Shiff (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 208-19. (131.) The word iran (spectacle) should not be confused with iran (generation) or iran (the tail of a tortoise), even though the three words have the same pronunciation. (132.) Lawal (as in n. 118), 39. Yoruba text: O nwo mi, mo nwo o, Tani seun ninu ara wa. (133.) See Idowu, 205 and Olatunji (as in n. 54), 79. Fairly naturalistic memorials also occur on the superstructures of Gelede headdresses during a special farewell ceremony intended to terminate the participation of a deceased member in the annual festivals. (134.) See Abiodun (as in n. 97), pl. 103. (135.) Having grown up in, and traveled throughout, Yorubaland, I have witnessed several second-burial ceremonies involving naturalistic memorials such as ako, ipade, ajeje, and related forms, like the Eyo Adamuorisa (Eyo) effigy of Lagos. Igbogbo, and Ijebu, Unfortunately, most of these opportunities predated my research interest in the subject. More recently, I encountered other ceremonies while on social visits to some towns but had no camera on me to record them. (136.) However, the Yoruba believe that the soul of a deceased parent can be reincarnated as a grandchild and begin a new life on earth. Lawal (as in n. 51), 50-61. (137.) For illustrations, see Ulli Beier, A Story of Sacred Wood Carvings from One Small Yoruba Town (Lagos: Nigerian Printing and Publishing Company, 1957). (138.) See Bice Benvenuto and Roger Kennedy, The Works of Jacques Lacan: An Introduction (London: Free Association Books, 1986), 55-58. (139.) The inward look on the face of certain altar sculptures has led some scholars to compare it to the countenance of devotees possessed by a deity. (140.) I am grateful to Chief Ifayemi Eleburuibon, a famous Osogho-based Yoruba diviner, for drawing my attention to this saying taken from the divination versa (Idikan), in an interview on July 6, 1998. (141.) For Yoruba chants meant to attract positive gazes, see David A. A. Adeniji, Ofo Rere (Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press, 1982). (142.) Adeboye Babalola, Ounje Oju, Olokun 9 (1970): 39: Ki la npe lonje oju Ki lo nyo oju bi oka ti nyo ikun Oju ko lonje meji bikose iran. Meji pataki nirufe re Idan, orisi iran ni Ewa, orisi iran nu leyi Oju ki irewa ko maa ki i Enia ki iko adarabiegbin koma wo o. Eegun npidan loja, je a lo wo o. Onje oju la fe fi fun un. (143.) For details, see Lawal (as in n. 118), 39 n. 3, 128-29. (144.) The word gbajumo can be etymologized as igba (two hundred), oju (faces or eyes), and mo (know). (145.) Abraham (as in n. 3), 667. (146.) See William Bascom, The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria (New York: Holt and Winston, 1969), 111. (147.) Idowu, 77 (trans.). Yoruba text: ifa te ju mo mi ki o wo mi re Bi o ba te ju mo ni la lowo llowo Bi o ba te ju mo ni la rire. (148.) In her review of the literature on the subject, Margaret Olin (as in n. 130), 209, notes, There is usually something negative about the gaze as used in art theory. This may partly be due to an emphasis on the evil eye in Judeo-Christian thought. According to Jacques Lacan (as in n. 129), 115, whose theory is a major influence on contemporary hermeneutics of the gaze, there is no trace anywhere of a good eye. In his words (118-19), The eye may be prophylactic, it cannot be beneficent--it is maleficent. In the Bible and even in the New Testament, there is no good eye, but there are evil eyes all over the place. The existence among the Yoruba of the notion of a good eye (oju rere or oju aanu) contradicts this assumption and calls for a more open-minded approach to the subject. For a critique of the paranoid implications of the Lacanian theory of the gaze, see Norman Bryson, The Gaze in the Expanded Field, in Vision and Visuality: Discussions in Contemporary Culture, ed. Hal Foster (Seattle: Bay Press, 1988), 104-8. (149.) As a result, flattery, drumming, dancing, and commemorative displays are often employed to influence the deities in Yoruba religion, as Andrew Apter has rightly observed. See his Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 99. For other implications of the face in Yaruba art, see Lawal (as in n. 28), 91-103. (150.) Wande Abimbola, Sixteen Great Poems of Ifa (Zaria, Nigeria: UNESCO, 1975), 233. That the other orisa (deities) depend on Esu for vision is most evident in the iconography of Ifa, the divination deity. Most divination trays (opon Ifa) have at least one stylized face said to represent Esu, enabling Ifa to reveal the past and foretell the future. See also Bascom (as in n. 33), 34 and Hans Witte, Ifa Trays from Osogbo and Ijebu Regions, in Abiodun et al. 58-77. (151.) Abraham (as in n. 3), 667. (152.) For a survey, see Mary H. Nooter, ad. Secrecy: African Art That Conceals and Reveals (New York: Museum of African Art Munich: Prestel, 1993). (153.) Susan Vogel, Baule: African ArtWestern Eyes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 110. (154.) According to popular belief, shortly after its abandonment at the crossroads, a second-burial effigy would momentarily be animated by the ghost of the deceased and its eyes would be filled with tears as the mourners return home. If the effigy is buried, the ghost would stand on the spot, sadly staring at the mourners. Tradition enjoins the mourners not to look back after disposing of the effigy whoever does so runs the risk of seeing the tearful face of the figure or the ghost and would subsequently die if certain propitiatory rites were not performed. (155.) Stevens (as in n. 9), 194. (156.) Oludare Olajubu and J. R.O. Ojo, Some Aspects of Oyo Yoruba Masquerades, Africa, Journal of the International African Institute 47, no. 3 (1977): 269. (157.) The term Orombo alludes to the unseeable. (158.) Solomon O. Babayemi, Egungun among the Oyo Yoruba (Ibadan, Nigeria: Board Publications, 1980), 8-9 (trans.). Yoruba text: Ma foju kan mi Enikan ko gbodo foju kan Orombo Nijo Agan ba jade osan Igi a ma wo lu igi, ope a ma wolu ope Igbo a ma jona tagbatagba Odan a si jona teruwa teruwa A difa fun Mafojukanmi Ti i je Agan. Solomon Babayemi translates the name Mafojukanmi figuratively as You must not see my face, which is correct. But I prefer the literal translation of the name, which is Do not set your eyes on me. (159.) Peter Morton-Williams, The Egungun Society in South-Western Yoruba Kingdoms, in Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the West African Institute of Social and Economic Research (Ibadan, Nigeria: WAISER, 1956), 95. I had a similar experience as a child growing up in Yorubaland. In some towns, the sound of bull roarers (oro) would fill the air as the procession moved from one ward to another, as if deliberately intended to awake the uninitiated, stressing the fact of their exclusion. In some cases, a sacred image may be brought out in daylight but concealed. Among the Ijebu subgroup, women are not allowed to see the charm of the Agemo masks, even in a concealed form, because of its use to reinforce the patriarchal social system. Women are therefore warned in advance to stay indoors: Orisa is treading the highways Lord of Life Who dares behold him Who dares scan the features of the god A chance glance, a chance death Swellings on your body like ripe corn Glimmering shadow A s urreptitious glance, a surreptitious death. See John Pemberton, The King and the Chameleon: Odun Agemo, Ife: Annals of the Institute of Cultural Studies (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife) 2 (1988): 52. In other cases, a sacred image may be seen by the general public but not at close range. A good example is the headdress of the Iya mask, which represents the Great Mother among the Ketu and Egbado subgroups. The mask usually comes out at night during the annual Gelede festival that is held in her honor. When the mask appears in the dance arena, all lights must be extinguished. For details, see Henry J. Drewal, Art and the Perception of Women in Yoruba Culture, Cahiers dEtudes Africaines 17, no. 4 (1977): 553. (160.) Similar traditions of concealment have been observed in other parts of Africa and are exemplified by the so-called acoustic masks, which appear only at night, using sound rather than visibility to indicate their supernatural power. For details, see Rosalind I. J. Hackett, Art and Religion in Africa (New York: Cassell, 1996), 55-56 and Edward Lifschitz, Hearing Is Believing: Acoustic Aspects of Masking in Africa, in West African Masks and Cultural Systems, ed. Sidney L. Kasfir (Trevuren: Musee Royale de lAfrique Centrale, 1988), 221-27. (161.) Since such an image is made at the beginning of an alaafins reign, one can only wonder whether or not a similar tradition obtained in ancient Ife with which the life-size brass heads may be associated, one way or the other. (162.) Sometimes, a framed photograph of the deceased may be carried in a public parade before the corpse is interred in other cases, photographs are carried in a public procession during annual memorial celebrations. For illustrations, see Margaret T. Drewal, Yaruba Ritual. Performers, Play, Agency (Bloomington, Ind. Indiana University Press, 1994), fig. 3.4. For Western influences on contemporary Yoruba portraiture, see idem, Portraiture and the Construction of Reality in Yorubaland and Beyond, African Arts 23, no. 3 (1990): 40-49, 101. See also Stephen F. Sprague, Yoruba Photography: How the Yoruba See Themselves, African Arts 12, no. 1 (1978): 52-59, 107. (163.) See Drewal, 1990 (as in n. 162), 40-49. (164.) Sprague (as in n. 162), 57. (165.) Ibid. See also Houlberg (as in n. 41), 26-27 and idem, Collecting the Anthropology of African Art, African Arts 9, no.3 (1976): 18-19 Susan Vogel, ed. Africa Explores: 20th Century African Art (New York: Center for African Art Munich: Prestel, 1991), 44-47 and Olu Oguibe, Photography and the Substance of the Image, in InSight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present (New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1996), 243-46. (166.) Houlberg (as in n. 165), 18. Frequently Cited Sources Abiodun, Rowland, A Reconsideration of the Function of Ako, Second Burial Effigy of Owo, Africa, journal of the International African Institute 46, no. 1 (1976): 4-20. Abiodun, Rowland, Henry J. Drewal, and John Pemberton III, eds. The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts (Washington, D. C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994). Akinjogbin, Isaac A. ed. The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to 1980 (Portharcourt, Nigeria: Sunray, 1992). Beier, Ulli, Yoruba Poetry: An Anthology of Traditional Poems (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970). Blier, Suzanne, Kings, Crowns, and Rights of Succession: Obalufon Arts at Ife and Other Yoruba Centers, Art Bulletin 67 (1985): 383-401. Drewal, Henry J. and John Pemberton with Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought (New York: Center for African Art, 1989). Eyo Ekpo and Frank Willett, Treasures of Ancient Nigeria (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980). Fabunmi, Michael A. Ife Shrines (Ile-Ife, Nigeria: University of Ife Press, 1969). Idowu, E. Bolaji, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, rev. ed. (New York: Original Publications, 1995). Lawal, Babatunde, 1974, Some Aspects of Yoruba Aesthetics, British Journal of Aesthetics 14, no. 3: 239-49. -----, 1996, The Gelede Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture (Seattle: University of Washington Press). Willett, Frank, 1966, On the Funeral Effigies of Owo and Benin, and the Interpretation of the Life-Size Bronze Heads from Ife, Man, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, n. s. 1: 34-45. -----, 1967, Ife in the History of West African Sculpture (New York: McGrawHill). Babatunde Lawal is professor of art history, Virginia Commonwealth University. He has published extensively on traditional and contemporary African art, most recently The Gelede Spectacle: Art, Gender, and Social Harmony in an African Culture (1996). A new book, Sango: Art, Spirit Mediumship, and Thunder Power in Yoruba Culture, is nearing completion Department of Art History, School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, P0 Box 843046, Richmond, Va. 23284-3046, email160protected . COPYRIGHT 2001 College Art Association COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group Abibitumi Kasa is a global website, app, forum and think tank created by and for AfrikanBlack people. 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