Yoruba art, in the real sense , is the visual representation of Yoruba culture , tradition and religion , it is the combination of Yoruba beliefs and traditional designs. These involves the Yoruba ornamental designs, architecture . carvings , costumes and marks.
The Yoruba traditional designs are attributes to its Yoruba spirituality . The traditional designs , in Yoruba beliefs , represents the spiritual functions of the Yoruba people . These are evident in the ancient Yoruba carvings and designs.
Traditional shrine sculptures / Templo dos Orixás , Mangagua .Brazil
Ọmọ Káàárọ̀-oòjíire , sons and daughters of Oduduwa, Yorubas are the West African people that inhabits majorly in Nigeria, Benin and Togo ; these areas constitutes Yorubaland of today. The Yorubas are over 47 million people in Africa.
However, the transatlantic slave trade as well extended vast number of Yoruba people around the world ; the Americas , Brazil , Cuba Trinidade and Tobago all have Yoruba links. Today , the Yorubas are also in the Latin American countries.
Nígerian Yoruba artist and writer , Adeyinka Olaiya and Babalorisa Maike Aremu in a chat /Brazil 2022
The slave trade did not only bring the culture , tradition and the religion , but also brought the arts , designs and architecture to Brazil and other countries in the Latin America; the Yorubas who were transported to Brazil as slaves , built their houses , designed their clothes , styled their hairs , built and designed their shrines
Outdoor shrine designs / Templo dos Orisas , Mangagua, Brazil
The Yoruba art involves the Yoruba literature ; music , dance , theater and language , they all contribute to the elevation of Yoruba religion . The IfA literary corpus entails designs and diagrams to differentiate the visual meanings of Odus ( IFA divination system
In the ancient times, Indigos were colors attributed to the Yoruba traditional designs , they were extracted from the natural sources , these colors also represent spiritual meanings in the Yoruba traditional religion.
The majority Yorubas are from Nigeria, they make up 15.5% of the country’s population , making them the largest ethnic group in Africa. Most Yoruba people speaks the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language. Yorubas have the largest number of native speakers, they are custodians of their tradition.
Edan Ogboni staff , artistically realized . It is the spiritual representation of the Ancient Ogboni fraternity .
The Abramovic interference did not only affect but reduced the total dedication of the Yoruba people to the services of their deities .The Yoruba culture and religion has spread throughout the world , it is practiced by more than 100 million people.
The Yorubas are known as a race that preserves the custom of producing artistic artifacts such as: string ornament, edging, braids, tattooing, pearling, the use of clay and ceramics, bronze, weaving and dyeing, wood carving among other forms of art , like music and dance.
Yoruba designs are mostly having spiritual characteristics , such as : the Egungun cults, Guelede, the art of Ifá and the aesthetic attributes used by them , they could be through threads and clothes and other spiritual or traditional attributes .
Yoruba religion is evident in Yoruba art . The Crown ( Ade) used by the Ancient Yoruba monarchs are not just designed but also represents the spiritual importance .
The Yoruba traditional art , despite being influenced over the centuries by the intersection of foreign ideas , remained alive and still intrinsically linked to mythological issues of individuals .
Yoruba designs in the service of the gods ( deities). The Yoruba arts , which is not just the designs , but also its influence in the practice of the Yoruba religion , is evident in the lives of every traditional Yoruba person . It is difficult to exclude the Yoruba religion from the real Yoruba art and designs ; the Ikokos ( Clay pots) in the ancient Yoruba land did not only serve as designs and decorations , but spiritual purposes too , the designs were made to tally with the spiritual purposes of pots .
Yoruba designs and religion is a fusion that will remain inseparable. The Yoruba pots , in the ancient days , were mostly used not just to conserve waters , but also to conserve traditional concoctions for healings , the (Iya Abiyes ) in the Yoruba the ancient dailies is comparable to the modern day Nurse , Iya Abiye helps to procure safety when a mother is giving birth in Yoruba land .
In most cases , Yoruba art and designs are determined to the services of Orisas , the deities in the Yoruba pantheons. The designs in the shrine houses are representational , they describe the attributes of the deities : the sango shrine designs in Oyo town represents the real worship of the god of thunder , the shrines of Sango worshipers are mostly designed in red colors and designs having to do with the deity .
Today , Yoruba artists and painters are elevating the culture , tradition and religion of their ancestors through their designs and carvings ; this has been the efforts of European hands , the lover of Arts and culture , Horst Ulrich Beier, better known as Ulli Beier (July 30, 1922 – April 3, 2011), who was a German-Jewish editor, writer and academic, he played a pioneering role in the development of literature, theater and poetry in Nigeria.
Carved IFA divination tray /Collection of African Cultural Center . Brazil
This also later involved the Osogbo artists , the Mbari Mbayo , the likes of Twins seven seven , Jimoh Braimoh and the rest . Yoruba arts further extended to the colleges of arts in the University of Ife , now Obafemi Awolowo University : the fine Arts department , the institute of cultural studies ( Ile -Irumole) , institute of African Studies , Drama department etc.
The fine arts department through Yoruba artists and Art historians like Prof. Moyo Okediji , Dr. Kunle Fulani and other artists at the University of Ife , created an Art movement called ONA. , this entails Yoruba ornamental designs , which characterizes the introduction of the Yoruba historical and traditional designs .
The awareness and the teachings of Yoruba history , in the recent years in diaspora , has boosted the clamor for Yoruba art and history in the international community , it has led to integral studies of Yoruba language, arts and cultural studies in several universities in Brazil and the Latin American countries.
In the history of Yoruba Art and Religion in Nígeria, Artist and Traditionalist like Adunni Olorisa , Suzanne Wenger , the Austrian -Swiss Artist and painter exceptionally introduced Orisha concepts and divinities into many of her concepts . Until her death , she was the Priestess at the Osun Osogbo Traditional Groove in Osogbo , Oyo state Nígeria.
Today Nígerian artists and notable historians are taking the lead in the Yoruba arts and Isese . Nígerian- Yoruba artist like Professor Moyo Okediji , lecturer at the University of Texas , the brain behind the AKOODI OOSA groove in Ile -Ife , has extended Yoruba arts to its great level in Diaspora .
In Brazil , shrine painters are considered Orisa artists ; they design and project the temples of Orisha worships . It is also very important that the designers of these temples are initiates of the religion ; many are also obligated to learn and be initiated in the religion as a means of communication, this will enhance the easy practice and understanding of the Yoruba Traditional Religion. Art , music , dance and designs are attached to the happenings of every society , the designs attached to the Yoruba society represents the Yoruba designs .
The Yoruba religion , traditional designs , culture , architecture, cuisine , language and religious activities defines the Yoruba traditional Art.
