Art as Symbol of Power and Control among the Yorùbá

The Yorùbá are popular for the peculiar art forms, which include woodcarving, textile design, metalwork, cloth weaving and embroidery, beadwork, costuming, pottery, architectural ornamentation, mural paintings, body beautification among others. The Yorùbá artists produce unique forms in these diver...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kehinde Adepegba, Tolulope O. Sobowale
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LibraryPress@UF 2022-01-01
Series:Yoruba Studies Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ojs.test.flvc.org/ysr/article/view/130289
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Yorùbá are popular for the peculiar art forms, which include woodcarving, textile design, metalwork, cloth weaving and embroidery, beadwork, costuming, pottery, architectural ornamentation, mural paintings, body beautification among others. The Yorùbá artists produce unique forms in these diverse areas of art. These forms often bear visual renditions of symbolism that are pregnant with socio-political meanings. This paper is, therefore, aimed at examining the symbolism of power and control among the Yorùbá found on some of the art forms. This is with the view of understanding the belief of the people about power and its control in the development of the Yorùbá nation. Photographic data for the paper were gathered from written literature and fieldwork. Formal and contextual methods were employed in the analysis of the data. In the course of analysis, oral traditions such as songs, proverbs, etc. were used. It was found out that the exercise of socio-political power in the Yorùbá society is a product of their belief system and philosophy as expressed in their art forms.
ISSN:2473-4713
2578-692X