Ilédì Oǹtótóo: Shrine Wall Detail

This image is a cement sculpted wall detail on the Ilédì Oǹtótóo Shrine, Susanne Wenger’s most sensitive and complex architectural creation. Built in the late 1960’s and early 1970s on the site of an abandoned school, it is the assembly point for the Ògbóni, traditionalists associated with the Earth deity.
The exterior walls are elaborately sculpted with “rapturously emotional scenes” to use Susanne Wenger’s words. The flow of the Ọ̀ṣun river is seen and felt throughout this magnificent shine. As this image shows, the walls of the shrine literally flow. Other parts of the walls depict interactions with the deities.
This shrine had nearly collapsed when the New Sacred Art Movement artists, led by Adebisi Akanji, Susanne’s artistic collaborator on all her major monuments and Sangodare Ajala, rescued and rebuilt it in 2012. All the cement walls had to be completely rebuilt. The redish colour was achieved by adding red iron oxide to the final finish of the Shrine. In the past laterite was mixed with the cement creating a slightly redish colour. Unfortunately, this earth additive was also the cause of the collapse of the walls. Now that it has been recreated using strong materials, this magnificent Shrine will hopefully last forever!
This photo is by Adolphus Opara, a very talented photographer who documented the Ọ̀ṣun Òṣogbo Shrines and Sculptures for the Trust. Adolphus has exhibited widely including at the Tate Gallery, London and at Harvard University, USA where his photos of the Ọ̀ṣun Grove were exhibited as part of Conference on the connections between sacred groves in Nigeria and in Brazil. Adolphus selected this photo out of his collection as one of ten of his favourite works inspired by the Groves.