Aworan: Representing the self and its Metaphysical other in Yoruba Art

Among the Yoruba of Nigeria and the Republic of Benin, the word aworan commonly refers to any two- or three-dimensional representation, ranging from the naturalistic to the stylized (Figs. 1, 2). A contraction of (that which), wo (to look at), and ranti (to recall, that is, the subject), aworan is mnemonic in nature, identifying a work of art as a construct specially crafted to appeal to the eyes, relate a representation to its subject, and, at the same time, convey messages that may have aesthetic, social, political, or spiritual import. (1) It should be emphasized, however, that Yoruba is a tonal language, so that the same word may have different meanings depending on how it is pronounced. (2) For example, because of a change in the vowel tones, the word aworan refers not to a representation--which is aworan--but to its beholder, being a contraction of a (the one), wo (looking at), and tran (spectacle) . (3) The meaning of the root verb wo (to look) remains intact in the two words, linking the beholder to t he beheld.

In this article, I want to focus not only on the interconnect-edness of art and language in Yoruba culture but also on how their cosmogony and concept of procreation draw on the metaphors of artistic creativity. In the process, I will underline the nature, contexts, functions, peculiarities, and poetics of visual representations, their impact on cultural behavior, and the extent to which portraiture has been used to reinforce the body politic at both the physical and metaphysical levels. As Richard Brilliant has rightly observed, "The synthetic study of portraiture requires some sensitivity to the social implications of its representational modes, to the documentary value of art as aspects of social history, and to the subtle interaction between social and artistic conventions." (4) In addition, I will attempt to shed some light on the nexus between aworan (picture or representation) and iworan (the act of looking).

Much of my data derives from field observations and interviews in Yorubaland, where I have conducted art historical research since the 1960s. I have also made use of Yoruba oral tradition, a good part of which has been studied by scholars in different disciplines and found to contain substantial factual information that can be used for historical reconstruction. (5) The fact that I conducted the field interviews in the Yoruba language (of which I am a native speaker) sometimes enabled me to play the role of a participant-observer and then follow up with questions pertaining to the semiotics of images and spectatorship. Hence, my theoretical approach combines linguistic, visual, iconographic, contextual, and anthropological analyses.

Omo Oduduwa: The Quest for Unity in Diversity

Numbering over 25 million people, the Yoruba are divided into several kingdoms, each headed by a king (oba). Almost all the kings and their subjects regard themselves as Omo Oduduwa, the descendants of Oduduwa, a mythical progenitor popularly identified as the first "divine" king of Ife, the ancient city widely regarded as the cradle of Yoruba civilization. (6) Although Yoruba culture appears to be homogeneous, there are significant regional variations, suggesting that what we have today is a synthesis of previously diverse, even if related, elements. This phenomenon is apparent in the Yoruba language, which has various dialects differentiating one kingdom from another, (7) and in the fact that Oduduwa has a double identity. In some parts of Yorubaland, he is regarded as a powerful warrior and the leader of an immigrant group that subjugated the aboriginal population of Ife and established a new ruling dynasty that eventually brought the whole of present-day Yorubaland under its hegemony. In other parts, the same Oduduwa (also pronounced Oodua) is worshiped as an earth goddess who sustains humanity in the same way that a mother nurtures her children. The fact that Oduduwa, the male warrior, is sometimes addressed as a "mother" has led some scholars of Yoruba history and religion to suggest that the male aspect is a later development, reflecting an attempt by a new dynasty to legitimize its hegemony by grafting a male aspect onto a preexisting earth goddess. This dynastic change, often dated between the seventh and eleventh centuries C.E., (8) reverberates in one cosmogonic myth concerning a power tussle between two deities in the Yoruba pantheon. According to the myth, the universe at first consisted of only the heavens and was governed by Olodumare, the Supreme Being and the generator of ase (pronounced ashe), the vital principle empowering existence. Assisting Olodumare to administer the universe was a pantheon of deities and nature spirits called orisa, each of whom personified different attributes of the Sup reme Being, such as water, land, creativity, industry, wisdom, beauty, fertility, vision, dynamism, healing, and so on. After some time, 016-dumare decided to create land below the sky and assigned the job to the creativity deity Obatala. Unfortunately, Obatala got drunk after receiving the sacred instruments of his commission and fell asleep by the roadside. Thereupon, a rival deity, Oduduwa, stole the sacred instruments, descended from the sky, and created what we now call the earth. When Obatala woke up and discovered what had happened, he challenged Oduduwa and a fierce fight ensued. The Supreme Being later intervened, compensating Obatala with another assignment--to mold the images of the first human beings, who later became inhabitants of the earth. (9) There are indications that the warring factions later intermarried and united to form a central government in Ife under Oduduwa, agreeing to rotate the kingship among themselves. (10) These events are commemorated annually during the Edi, Itapa, Olojo, a nd Obatala festivals in Ife and its environs when the devotees of Obatala--representing the aborigines--and those of Oduduwa--representing the immigrants--engage in ritualized mock battles that usually end in favor of the Oduduwa faction, after which there is a reconciliation. (11) Suffice it to say that the Omo Oduduwa ethos, which seems to have influenced the Yoruba concept of portraiture, was apparently invented as a political strategy aimed at forging a kind of "Unity in Diversity" relating the immigrant and aboriginal groups--royals and commoners alike. (12).