Ọjà Oǹtótóo: Sango, God of Thunder

This cement sculpted figure represents Sango, the Yoruba god of Thunder, one of many cement sculptures that populate “Ọjà Oǹtótóo”, or “the Marketplace”.
In the words of Susanne Wenger: ‘Ọjà Oǹtótóo is a market for gods, subterranean and supernatural beings, angels and clairvoyant humans. It is an amphitheatre where earthly and heavenly beings are actors and audience combined’. (The Sacred Groves of Oshogbo, Susanne Wenger, 1990, page 18)
There are drummers, hunters, an elephant rider, a large mother stretched out on the ground with her small child, snakes and tortoises - all representing the spirits that come from the forest, out of the earth and from the trees.
These extraordinary sculptures were originally created in the late 1960s by Saka Aremu, one of Wenger’s earliest protégés. The vision was to create an intimate amphitheatre where dance and drumming performances would be held and both traditionalists and the community would mix. The sculptures were designed to be used as seats and resting places.
As money was scarce in those days, the artists and artisans used laterite to anchor the sculptures and then covered this earthen core with cement, reinforced with iron rods. Over time, the earth core disintegrated, leaving only the cement shell.
In 2012 more than 45 sculptures needed to be rebuilt completely. Very sadly, Saka Aremu died the year before while working on another restoration project and was not able to recreate his own works of art here.
Sangodare Ajala, leader of the New Sacred Art Movement led artists Adebisi Akanji, Adebisi Nurudeen, and Adeyemi Oseni to recreate this magnificent site.