Adeyemi Oseni: Restoring a Decorative Wall

This is a portrait of Adeyemi Oseni, an original member of the New Sacred Art Movement and one of only two still active and able to work on the Grove when the site faced a crisis in 2014. Adebisi Akanji was the other. Other elderly artists had either passed away or were no longer able to work. The Adunni Olorisha Trust estimated that at least five more years of work would be needed to save the artworks in the Grove, but did not have a young team trained up. Older artists had been reluctant to pass down their skills; and only one young artist, Adebisi Nurudeen, had been trained in this complex artform.
In 2015 the AOT launched the “Save Our Art: Save Our Heritage” Campaign under the chairmanship of art and heritage patron, Olufemi Akinsanya. The Trust then set a goal in 2015 to raise enough money to recruit and train up a team to complete the restoration work outstanding in the Grove within a period of five years. The cornerstones of the plan were five years of secure employment for team members together with consistent training.
Sangodare Ajala - leader of the New Sacred Art Movement, artist, priest and son of Susanne Wenger - took on the challenge of recruiting the team and leading the restoration with the help of his able Administrator, Toyin Ajayi. Adebisi Akanji, master artist mentored and trained by Wenger and who worked alongside her for 40 years, was part of the team along with his son, Nurudeen, who he had mentored himself. And Adebisi Nurudeen was willing to mentor others.
A full team of 18 was recruited and, from 2016 to mid-2019, the team worked together full-time. Thereafter the AOT had to slow down the work for financial reasons and the team now worked in rotation, part-time. There were major accomplishments during this period, and there's still more to be done. But now there is a trained team of skilled restoration artists, artisans and labourers. The work will go on.