A-ARTs: Ori Olokun as visual narrative of cultural duality

By Tajudeen Sowole

'Identity' (acrylic on canvas, 53 x 85cm, dated 2023) by Oluwafemi Omoboriowo.

OVER a century after the original Ife bronze, Ori Olokun, got missing in transit – from Ile-Ife, in Nigeria to wherever – artist, Oluwafemi Omoboriowo generates mixed cultural concept from the controversial artefact. Interestingly, the U.K, which played a part in the early years of the Ife head resurfaces in Omoboriowo's concept of cultural duality, using Ori-Olokun as the point of strange convergence.

In the artist's visual narrative, the complexity of cultural assimilation for migrants, without losing ancestral identity in foreign lands, comes into his radar. As an artist whose style and technique in portrait art lean more towards conceptual themes, Omoboriowo brings his U.K base experience into the issue of identity.

In language, fashion, foods as well as communal values, most African migrants to Europe, US and other parts of the world – in search of greener pastures otherwise known as 'japa' in Nigerian contemporary expression – have lost their cultural origin. More of interest is that such vestigial of cultural values are being passed from one generation to another as Africans keep flooding out of their continent of origin. Perhaps, suggesting a. convergence in cultural plurality, Omoboriowo's concept adds creative oddity or surreal to the issue.

In acrylic on canvas piece titled Identity, Omoboriowo brings one of the most revered cultural object in Africa, Ori Olokun, as illustrative contents with his host country's identity. What a beautiful, perhaps, odd masking of the Ori Olokun face with the Union Jack of the U K! While the issue of identity was the artist's motives and focus in creating the 2023 dated piece, the concept could be misinterpreted in quite a number of ways, beyond his thoughts. Escalating his conceptual skill, Omoboriowo covers the torso of Ori Olokun with a suit outfit, complete in tie.

Omoboriowo explained how migrating from Nigeria to the UK nspired the art piece, arguing that such relocation does not imply losing one's sense of cultural identity. The artist would rather see a kind of hybridised cultural form to create new identity, as captured in the art piece.

However, Omoboriowo's masked Ori Olokun could be interpreted differently by observers and followers of controversy that surrounds cultural objects, across international borders. The UK has been the centre stage of many controversial and disputed artefacts taken from parts of Africa, including Nigeria, and housed in quite a number of European museums. If placed before art critics and cultural activists to dissect, Omoboriowo's 'Identity' piece might be framed within the context of conflicts between holders and country of origin owners of many stolen African artefacts.

Tracked to c.1400 years creation, the original of the Ori Olokun was regarded lost, sometime in the late 1930s after a German anthropologist, Leo Frobenius excavated it in Ile-Ife, in 1910. The journey to the unknown destination of the original started after the then British colonisers advised the indigenous Ice custodians that the head be returned to the shrine where it belonged. Between then and currently, quite a number of replicas have emerged, broadening the controversy surrounding the provenance of the cultural object. With Omoboriowo's analogous concept, Ori Olokun gets another mixed identity. Again, the UK becomes a part of the new identity, over 130 years after, as the artist masks its face with the same Union Jack identity of the former colonisers.

For Omoboriowo, his art, generally, goes beyond aesthetics, but as part of critical research into broader cultural dynamics. He explained that his research work "on societal dynamics, migration and cultural identity serves as my source of inspiration." Coalescing what he described as his "historical studies" and personal experience as well as his "fascination, with the symbolic meaning of the U.K flag," the artist brings a modified Ori Olokun, conceptualised to stir critical attention.

With the concept, Omoboriowo likes to see how different cultural identities overlap, as well as the impact of globalization on the world. More importantly, he hopes to start a new conversation about heritage, togetherness, colonial legacies, or the fusion of traditional spirituality with modern national identities.

His major goal: "My ultimate goal is to challenge viewers’ assumption, start a conversation about the nuances and culture, or provide an artistic interpretation that connects disparate cultural traditions and identity."

Apart from the fact that the original the Ife bronze, Ori Olokun is still considered missing, the increasing number of replicas in circulation – with different textures and shapes – are enough to distort history. For Omoboriowo's subject of identity, which locates a depth of duality between two different cultures, Ori Olokun has found another meaning.

-Tajudeen Sowole is a Lagos-based Art Advisor and media professional.

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