A Twin Image from Abeokuta, Nigeria
Tim Chappel all photographs by the author
n , local observers from all walks of life were shown refugees from the nearby settlement of lbara-Oko, which lay a selection of memorial images for departed twins in the path of an approaching Dahomeyan army (see Chappel (ere ibeji), representing a varied range of individual ). A priest of Eshu [Esu] Elegba (trickster and divine mes- “hands,” or styles, throughout Yorubaland. e most senger of the gods) as well as a carver, Eshubiyi set up his highly praised and widely admired of all the images workshop in a part of the Egba metropolis separated from oered for their critical appraisal was the female twin his fellow refugees while continuing to maintain links with gure featured here (Figs. a–b). the close-knit Ibara community. In , Shookan [Sookan] Iis gure was collected by K.C. Murray, then Surveyor Ogunbayo, Eshubiyi’s grandson, and other lineage members of Antiquities, at the Egbado town of Ajilete, southwestern were adamant that a dance sta (Figs. a–b) still in use in Yorubaland, in . It was among other items rescued aer the association with his priestly duties—both occupations, Atinga “witch-nding” cult had swept through the Ilaro area in priest and carver, having been inherited—had been carved – (see Morton-Williams : – ). Specic cults were by Eshubiyi himself. e care and devotion directed towards targeted, and shrines for twins were attacked with “particular this iconic lineage possession suggested that there was no rea- zeal” (Morton-Williams : ), reecting the close asso- son to doubt this assertion. As Drewal ( ) notes, there are ciation of twin births with witches in this area. Murray (n.d.) marked stylistic convergences between this dance sta and reckoned that the cult visited at least thirty-nine, and possibly as the twin gure that he provisionally attributes to Eshubiyi. many as forty-ve, dierent localities. He collected twin g- e same may be said of the twin gure under discussion. ures, including pairs, but this represents only a small selection As indicated, this gure was the most highly ranked of all the of the many hundreds, if not thousands, of twin images either twin gures shown to respondents for their critical appraisal. It earmarked for destruction or already destroyed by cult members was noted, at the time, that the initial appreciative response of on their rampage through the region. many of these observers was a nonverbal one: ey manifested On stylistic grounds, the gure is undoubtedly a product an obvious desire to pick up and handle this particular object. of the Eshubiyi [Esubiyi] workshop, Ita Eleshu [Elesu], Oke In many instances, they were observed caressing its smooth con- Itoko, Abeokuta, a singular characteristic of this style being tours. Subsequent verbal comments most frequently remarked the “massive pierced hands” (Drewal : , Fig. ). Shown on the fact that the image closely “resembles a person” (o jo the gure in , members of the lineage claimed it, with- enia), i.e., it looked like a human being. Among the southwestern out hesitation, as the work of the workshop’s founder (ca. Yoruba, at least, this was a dening accolade for what was consid- – ), suggesting that it had probably been carved ered to be a successful piece of gurative sculpture. during the second half of the nineteenth century. Eshubiyi, Especial praise was lavished by respondents on the carver’s also known by his praise name Amutu, and members of his expert treatment, both in terms of quality (neness of execution) family had settled in Abeokuta in or thereabouts, as and quantity (number of plaits), of the gure’s coiure, another major criterion of carving excellence in this area. In , Shookan and his son, Atanda, also a carver, reluctantly agreed Tim Chappel was employed as an ethnographer, in the mid-1960s, by that their own eorts in this regard no longer matched those of the Federal Department of Antiquities, Nigeria, to whom he is grate- their predecessors. Fellow carver Joshua Adelakun of Mede (see ful for permission to publish this material. Dedicated to the continued Chappel : –, Fig. ), who had been invited to make a memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. copy of the gure, admitted that in spite of his acknowledged skill with the knife, the task of reproducing the nely executed
african arts AUTUMN 2018 VOL. 51, NO. 3 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00417 by guest on 27 September 2021 1a–b Female twin memorial image (ere ibeji), collected at Ajilete in 1951. Most probably carved, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, by Eshubiyi [Esubiyi], also known as Amutu, founder of one of the two principal wood- carving enterprises in Abeokuta, the Egba capital. NM (National Museum) Accession Number 51.16.547. H:25 cm.
plaits of the coiure, with which he was altogether unfamiliar, carve this feature of the human anatomy “correctly,” while himself had proved both daunting and demanding. Indeed, he was less providing a detailed demonstration of the correct positioning of than satised with his attempt. the digits, especially with regard to the gap between ngers and e only criticism encountered with regard to the gure were thumbs. On the second occasion, he oered the additional crit- that the hands are unnaturally large in relation to the remainder icism that the arms were “too long,” pointing to his own father’s of the body. Joshua Adelakun, in the process of producing his twin images as perfect examples of the proper proportions. On copy of the piece, noted in addition that the gure lacks wrists, the third occasion, he noted, almost as an aerthought, and pos- but said that he that he had rectied this omission (Chappel sibly with an element of mischievous intent, that the carving of : –). Interestingly, Sarakatu Ayoola (Ayo), leading carver the breasts indicated a person “suering from venereal disease.” of the rival Adugbologe workshop in Abeokuta, was full of praise However, he also reiterated his opinion that this was the work for this twin image, which was presented to him on three sepa- of a highly accomplished carver and his nal, somewhat barbed, rate occasions and which he attributed to Amutu (i.e., Eshubiyi). comment relating specically to Amutu’s generation of carvers Given he and Shookan were, at that time, engaged in an intense, was: “ey were much better carvers in those days.” It would, even bitter public feud over the originator of Shodeke [Sodeke]’s perhaps, be hard to disagree with this verdict. door—both men claiming that their respective grandfathers had Yoruba twin gures are regarded by some, especially cul- carved the door for the legendary founder of Abeokuta (Chappel tural outsiders, as little more than “charming dolls.” ey are, )—a less dispassionate appraisal might have been expected. however, capable of operating as “power objects,” not only Inevitably, he drew attention to the enlarged hands, indicating when employed to “make medicine” with the express pur- that members of the Eshubiyi workshop had never learnt how to pose of causing harm to others, but also in the ever-present
VOL. 51, NO. 3 AUTUMN 2018 african arts Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00417 by guest on 27 September 2021 | Formerly, throughout Yorubaland, twins were forbidden and twin births not accepted, either socially or culturally, as a fact of life. e Yoruba, therefore, “did not have twins.” Subsequently, over a period of time, possibly as a result of contact during the eighteenth century or even earlier with their western Egun [Gun] neighbors, the reversal of this taboo reaction led to twin children being welcomed as divine, or semi -divine, beings (cf. Chappel ). However, in the mid- s, the period when these comments were made, it was apparent that many Yoruba continued to harbor an ambivalent attitude towards twin births. In fact, in certain lineages such births were still forbidden. During the process of ideological reversal, the earlier belief that twin births did not occur and twins, therefore, did not exist was reformulated as its logical corollary: “Twins do not die.” When a twin child departed from this visible world, various euphemisms were employed to explain its temporary absence, e.g., “It has gone to Lagos to buy cloth,” or “It has gone to the bush to collect rewood.” is ction seemingly provided the parents and close rela- tives and society at large with a psychologically reassuring support mechanism absolving them from any lingering (if unvoiced) doubts or fears, or residual (if submerged) guilt feelings concerning the child’s departure and the possibility
2a–b (Above) Dance staff for Eshu [Esu]-Elegba, trickster and divine messenger of the gods. Almost certainly carved by Eshubiyi [Esubiyi], during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Photographed in situ, in Ita Eleshu [Elesu], Abeokuta, in 1964.
(Right)The lower portion of the sculpture, held by Shookan, is festooned with cowrie shells and also two china (Dresden?) figurines said to have been given to Eshubiyi by German missionaries soon after he had settled in Abeokuta in 1863 or thereabouts.
awareness of their ritual potency in the minds of those household members directly entrusted with their care and preservation as memorials for departed twins. As one mem- ber of the Adugbologe workshop, into which many twins had been born, explained in : “Twins are the children of witches, and they are spirit beings (anjonu) … [Because of this] twin images are more important than all other carvings. You [Europeans] buy them from us for [just] two pounds, but they are important.”
african arts AUTUMN 2018 VOL. 51, NO. 3 Downloaded from| http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00417 by guest on 27 September 2021 that this might have been causally linked, as in the past, e primary function, then, of the twin image was to sym- with a negative response resulting in total rejection. bolize the worldly reinstatement, indeed the welcome rebirth, In order to realize the physical return of the absent twin, a of the lately departed but now returning prodigal, thereby representative wooden image (ere ibeji) was invariably com- oering incontrovertible proof that Yoruba society no longer missioned by the parents on instruction from the Ifa oracle rejected twin births or the existence of twins, as it had once and then treated as a sentient being. is image served both done in the past. e role of the ere ibeji, to put it simply, was as a repository for the disembodied, restless, therefore poten- to operate as a tangible rearmation of the earthly accep- tially dangerous spirit of the departed twin and as one of tance of these special children. At a deeper level, perhaps, the the primary focal points for the propitiation rituals associ- image symbolized, in a potentially fraught situation, the ideal ated with the twin cult. Although representing an infant, the outcome: the harmonious reunion of body and soul, heaven replica was endowed with primary sexual characteristics, thus and earth. In this sense, ere ibeji could be said to replicate, permitting the born-again twin—many parents and carvers in essentially Yoruba terms, the human condition, in that an referred to the commissioning of the image as a “rebirth”—to external, physical presence, subject to mortality, serves as a continue its interrupted journey into adult maturity and to temporary vessel for an internal, spiritual essence, which is experience, as it were, a fullled life. both transcendental and indestructible.
Notes expressed, and even its precise wording, may not be Chappel, T.J.H. . “e Yoruba Cult of Twins in original, i.e., I may well have read or heard it some- Historical Perspective.” Africa (): – . 1 Lineage history has it that Ayo’s grandfather, where. Should this be so, and for the purpose of Ojeyinde [Ojerinde] (nicknamed Adugbologe), and Chappel, T.J.H. . “Joshua Adelakun of Mede.” proper acknowledgment, I have diligently searched Eshubiyi worked together as woodcarvers during African Arts ( ): –, . for a possible source, but without success. If this the early days of their settlement in Abeokuta. It does represent an instance of plagiarism, I can only Drewal, H.J. . African Artistry: Techniques and was during the incumbency of their respective oer my most sincere and abject apologies to the Aesthetics in Yoruba Sculpture. Altanta, GA: High sons, Oniyide and Akinyode, as head carvers that author concerned. Museum of Art. a parting of the ways had occurred and the rivalry, bequeathed to their own two sons, had arisen. Morton-Williams, P. . “e Atinga Cult Among 2 Aminu Ayinla Idowu, son of Ayo’s half-brother, References cited the Southwestern Yoruba.” IFAN (– ): – . Makinde, interview with author, 1964. Chappel, T.J.H. . “Critical Carvers: A Case Study.” Murray, K.C. n.d. File , National Museum, Lagos. 3 I have a nagging suspicion that this notion, as Man n.s. : –.
VOL. 51, NO. 3 AUTUMN 2018 african arts Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar_a_00417 by guest on 27 September 2021 |