Veranda Post with Divination Priest (Babalawo) and Drummer (work of art)

Key Ideas about this Work of Art

• A veranda is an open-air gallery or porch (with a roof) that is attached to the outside of a building. This hand-carved veranda post would have served as a column to support the roof of a porch on a cultural center in Ibadan, Nigeria. It is one of three veranda posts the artist created for the cultural center. 
• This carved wooden veranda post is made up of two human figures who are separated by a patterned geometric form. The figures represent a divination priest (babalawo) and a drummer. The divination priest (top figure) wears a wrap skirt, has an elaborate coiffure (hairstyle), and holds a staff in each hand. The drummer (bottom figure) wears a diamond-and-dot patterned outfit, complete with a hat and a drum. The artist’s signature is carved into the base of the post.
• Divination is a ritual that is performed to interpret present events and predict what will happen in the future. It is practiced by people in many African communities to help solve problems, cure illness, and make important life decisions.
• Fakeye, the descendant of five generations of wood carvers, became well known in a tradition in which artists are often anonymous. He trained and traveled throughout the world and created work that connects Nigerian traditions to a globalized, contemporary African art.

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Lamidi Olonade Fakeye came from a long line of Yorùbá wood carvers. After a three-year apprenticeship with a master sculptor in Nigeria, he studied and taught in Europe and the United States. As a student in France, he experimented with stone carving but eventually decided to focus on his personal interpretation of the techniques and styles of traditional Yorùbá wood carving. In 1978 he began a 30-year teaching career at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

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