Ọbàtálá Shrine Complex: Sculptures After Restoration

This photo shows three of the earliest small cement sculptures by New Sacred Art Movement’s Founder, Susanne Wenger. At the time she was encouraging Adebisi Akanji and other artists of the Movement to create works of art reflecting their Yoruba traditions. She mentored them to experiment with cement and to create works that maintained the attributes of the deities sculpted in wood by traditional ritual woodcarvers but in a style which was there own.
These works have a playful and surrealist quality and were created in the early 1960s.
As with all the Shrines and works of art in the Sacred Groves, these three works of art were created using cement, reinforced by iron rods and netting. To save money at the time, mud was used in the core and then covered with cement. Over time the mud core weakened and the sculptures collapsed. These two works of art were completely reconstructed in 2016 by Adebisi Akanji. This time only cement with metal reinforcement were used and the sculptures should last forever, requiring only periodic maintenance.