Ladunni Keshinro: At Work Rostoring Decorative Walls

This photo is of one of the new Apprentices recruited to be a labourer/apprentice artisan in the Osun Grove in 2016. Ladunni Keshinro is a Priestess as well as a Princess of one of the Royal families in Osogbo. She is one of the main Priestesses that accompanies the ritual objects brough to the main Osun Shrine during the annual Osun Festival. Ladunni understands deeply the significance of preserving the Shrines and the meaning that behind these incredible works of art.
Leader of the New Sacred Art Movement and Site Manager Sangodare Ajala oversees work as New Sacred Artist Adeyemi Oseni restores a wall in the Osun Sacred Grove. Restoration has been an ongoing project over the years in the Grove, but in 2014 the Adunni Olorisha Trust (AOT) faced a crisis. Only two of the original members of the New Sacred Art Movement were active and able to work in the Groves: Adebisi Akanji and Adeyemi Oseni. All of the other elderly artists had either passed away or not fit enough to work. The AOT estimated that at least five more years of work were needed to save the art did not have a young team trained. Up until this time, the elderly artists had been reluctant to pass along their knowledge and only one young man, 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 patron and heritage enthusiast, Olufemi Akinsanya. The Trust set a goal in 2015 to raise enough money to recruit and train-up a team to complete all the restoration work outstanding in the Groves within five years. 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 Susanne Wenger for 40 years, was part of the team along with his son, Nurudeen, who he had mentored himself. Adebisi Nurudeen paid it forward by mentoring 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 only worked in rotation, part-time from mid-2019 to the present. A huge amount was accomplished during this period, but there is still much to be done. But now there is a trained team of skilled restoration artists, artisans and labourers, and the work will go on.