A Brief History Of Adunni Olorisa – The White Priestess Of An African goddess - EKEMODE DAMILARE SEUN

SUSANNE WENGER: A FULFILLED LIFE4th of July, 1915 -- 12th of January, 2009
Graz, Austria—Osogbo, Nigeria

Eulogy by Ekemode Damilare Seun (Bowen university University Student Research Report on Susanne Wenger

How do you describe a person who was so many
different things to so many people from all over
the world?
To most of us, she is known as a great artist of course,
but there was so much more to Susanne Wenger and
her life.
Susanne was born in Graz, a town in southern Austria,                                                                                       
during the First World War. From a very early age,
Susanne was drawn to nature and spent a lot of her
time in the woods and mountains around the town.
Her artistic journey began at the College for Arts and
Crafts in Graz where she started by experimenting with
different techniques such as drawings in pencil, ink and
crayon, ceramic works and clay sculptures.
She then moved to Vienna where she spent 4 years at
the Academy of Art and lived through the horror of
the city during the occupation, the war and finally the
liberation.
Susanne refused to accept the Nazi regime and helped to
hide Jewish friends and other people listed by the Nazis
as ‘unwanted’. Her art was considered ‘degenerate’ by
the regime and she was forbidden to paint but found
refuge in books about eastern religions and far away countries.
During the nights when the bombs fell on Vienna she was haunted by dreams which she put on paper
during the day – surreal picture-worlds born of fear and despair. These are now regarded by experts as
the first surreal works of art by an Austrian painter.
The role of modern artists during the Second World War was the subject of an exhibition in Graz in
2001 ‘Moderne in dunkler Zeit’ (‘Modern Art in Dark Times’) which paid special tribute to the efforts of
Susanne Wenger, the only surviving artist of the period, for maintaining human values, risking her own
live and helping others against the regime.
In 1946 she was a founding member of the ‘Art Club’ in Vienna. The Art Club was an international
association proclaiming ‘the right for artistic freedom’. Its centre was in Rome with sections in Belgium,
Brazil, Egypt, France, Israel, South Africa, Holland, Turkey, Uruguay and Austria. Its chairman was Pablo
Picasso, then thought of as the embodiment of the ‘horror’ of the modern art movement.
After recovering from a serious fall into a lift shaft just before the
end of the war, she travelled to Rome and Sicily in spring 1948 and
later that year to Zurich and Paris.
In Paris Susanne was attracted to the bohemian life with its artistic
circles, their intellect and critical attitude. Here for the first time
in her life she could paint happily free of troubles and restrictions.
She met Ulli Beier in Paris, who, at the time was working with
handicapped children, and had just accepted a posting at the
University of Ibadan. They got married (using a pair of curtain
rings as wedding rings) and set off for Nigeria driving across North
Africa, the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert before arriving
in Ibadan in early 1950.

After spending a couple of years in the university compound, the Ulli shifted his work to promoting art,
drama and music in the University’s Extramural Department.
The couple moved to Ede where Susanne met the Obatala Priest Ajagemo who became her mentor,
‘guru’ and great friend. After a long process of learning not only a new and very different language, but
also gaining knowledge about the complexities and spiritual dimensions of the Yoruba Religion and its
traditions, she was initiated as a priestess for Obatala, the God of Creation.
A few years later she was also initiated into the Ogboni and Sonponna Societies.
After 4 years they moved to the village of Ilobu,
where Susanne was further integrated into the
Yoruba Culture. This is where she painted vivid
pictures echoing the experiences she had had
during her apprenticeship and initiation.
In Ilobu she also learned the ancient technique
of Adire – where cassava starch is used to
create patterns on material, which is then dyed
in indigo. Using this technique she started
painting interpretations of Yoruba mythology
on pieces of cloth stitched together to create
huge monochrome canvasses.

In 1957 Susanne moved with Ulli
Beier to the beautiful old stone house
built in the ‘Brazilian’ style on Ibokun
Road in Oshogbo, which became her
home for the rest of her life.
In 1958 Susanne Wenger and Ulli
Beier were divorced as a consequence
to the separate paths taken - one
into intellectual research and the
development of contemporary art in
Nigeria and the other continuing her
personal journey into the depths of
Yoruba culture and sacred art.
1958 brought another important
turn in her life, she was asked by a
high ranking priest to help restore
an important shrine. Together with
a few local craftsmen she started
rebuilding the shrine known as ‘Idi
Baba’ which is located away from the
Groves on the road to Ibokun.

This was the beginning of what would become Susanne Wenger’s most important artistic achievement. In
more than 40 years of continuous work she not only created the sacred shrines, monumental sculptures
and statues for which the Groves are now famous, but she also managed to defend this area of unspoiled
forest from the encroaching town, from determined farmers who wanted to cut down the trees for
farmland and from poachers who wanted to hunt there. At one stage Susanne said they wrapped white
bed-sheets around the large trees to save them from being cut down.
The first restoration project within the Sacred Groves was the shrine dedicated to Osun, the goddess of
the river Osun, the ‘Waters of Life’. This shrine, ‘Ojubo Oshogbo’, had been destroyed by termites, and
some people had already started on repairs when Susanne was asked by the Osun priestess for help.
Slowly, inspired by Susanne’s example, the local woodcarvers, blacksmiths, carpenters and bricklayers
began to develop their own artistic potential.

Adebisi Akanji, who had mastered the technique of cement
sculpture passed this knowledge on to Susanne and was
most important and instrumental in the subsequent
building of the monumental sculptures and structures.
Kasali Akangbe was responsible for most of the scaffolding
and wooden roof structures but he is also one of the
acclaimed woodcarvers who, together with Buraimoh
Gbadamosi, created most of the woodcarvings in the
Groves. Buraimoh Gbadamosi is also a stone carver and is
best known for his stone figures of ‘Earth-spirits’ – or as
Susanne called them ‘Kiliwis’.

After the Osun shrine was completed many others followed: ‘Iledi
Ontotoo’, the ‘Obatala shrine complex’, the impressive ‘Iya Mopoo’,
the majestic ‘Ela’ and many more.
Whilst the work in the groves was going on, at home in her atelier,
she developed a technique that was a mixture of textile-painting,
wax batik and indigo dye. This is how she created her impressive
batiks – some of which measure 7 by 3.5 metres!
The theme of these cloth paintings, are again, stories from Yoruba
mythology, which in her own words: “present a sort of metaphysical
snapshot”.
Between 1952 and 1970 Susanne also illustrated and designed
books by Yoruba authors and wrote children’s books, both in English
and Yoruba and also contributed to the legendary Black Orpheus
Magazine, which was founded by Ulli Beier.
In the mid 1960’s she once again took up oil painting and as there
was no canvas available, she painted on plywood panels from old
tea chests. During this period, her paintings covered a wide span
of themes from the history of mankind, the Bible, world literature
and environmental issues as well as themes from Yoruba mythology.
Unlike the monumental sculptures in the groves or the large batiks,
her oil paintings express her philosophy on a relatively small canvas,
but they are just as powerful.30 Bild 27 02 01 1
Susanne was a very spiritual and religious person, religious in
a sense that has nothing to do with following a doctrine or script
but with the acceptance of a different, mystical dimension that is
inherent in all that exists. In her own words: “creative thinking and
art are not measurable since they are testimony of the truth, and
this truth, the only truth, has many faces. Who can count the faces
of truth? All religions are ultimately the religion of mankind. Art is
ritual.”

From the mid 1980s, Susanne
Wenger had many important
exhibitions in Europe, the first
marked her 70th birthday in 1985
and brought her art back to Vienna
for the first time in 35 years.
Ten years later the Kunsthalle
Krems staged a large retrospective
exhibition in the Minoritenkirche,
which included works from the
Nigerian New Sacred Art Movement.
Her hometown Graz then followed
with an exhibition in 2004 ‘Along
the Banks of a River in Africa’.
Other venues included Prague in
1992, Beyreuth in 1993, Gmunden
in 2001 and in the same year she
took part in the exhibition staged by
Okwui Envezor ‘The Short Century
– Independence and Liberation
movements in Africa 1994-1945’,
which was shown in Munich, Berlin,
Chicago, New York.
Her work in the Groves was first
formally recognized in 1965 when
the Oshun Groves were declared
a National Monument by the
Nigerian Government; in Austria
she received awards in 2001 ,1985
and two in 2004; UNESCO declared
the Groves a World Heritage Site
in 2005 and in December 2008
she was declared a Member of the
Order of The Federal Republic by
the Nigerian Government.
Her work in the groves, her
involvement in the Yoruba
Traditions, her paintings, drawings
and batiks found international
acclaim and Susanne met people
from all over the world and
corresponded regularly with a large
number of friends. I remember
coming back from Oshogbo with a
wad of envelopes to be posted for
her. Those of course were the days
when the only working telephone
was in a neighbour’s house,
computers, emails and mobile
phones were things of the future
and months-old newspapers and
magazines the only source of news
from Europe.

Besides all this, she still found enough time to dedicate
herself to her growing ‘extended family’. She was
entrusted by one of the last truly great Oshun Priests,
Layi Olosun to bring up most of his children, one of
those children is Doyin Faniyi, and Susanne also adopted
Shangodare Gbadegesin Ajala at the age of 5. Both
of them are now very significant personalities in the
hierarchy of Yoruba Tradition and are dedicated to the
protection and preservation of Susanne’s legacy.
Over the decades, many more children grew up in her
home in Ibokun Road and many friends and fellow
artists have found support and help within its walls. One
way of supporting the emerging artists of the New Sacred Art Movement was to buy their work, which
Susanne did, and these pieces now form the mainstay of her substantial private collection of traditional
but mainly modern Nigerian art. This collection was documented in a recent publication by the Adunni
Olorisha Trust: Susanne Wenger, her House and her Art Collection.
Her death has not only left an empty chair at her favourite spot along the river, it has also left us with the
enormous task of preserving her legacy.
Looking back, these are only some of the many things Susanne Wenger was:
the student, the activist and resistance fighter, the survivor, the traveler, the wife, the drop out, the
apprentice, the teacher, the sponsor, the environmentalist, the animal lover and protector, the matriarch,
the friend, the philosopher and above all, the artist.
She was all this - and more - and there is only one thing, Susanne Wenger most certainly was not: a
materialist. Money to her was a means to an end but not something she ever wanted for herself.
She lived an extraordinary life and made a remarkable contribution to Nigeria and the world. May her
legacy be preserved.

Susanne Wenger's Legacy

Due to Susanne’s lifelong efforts, the Sacred Groves of Osogbo, the 75 hectare old-growth forest has been preserved and is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is an environmental oasis in a region that is experiencing fast and unplanned urbanisation.

Susanne developed, in collaboration with a group of traditional artists and artisans who she mentored, the “New Sacred Art Movement” which is unique to Nigeria and recognised globally as an important form of artistic expression.

The New Sacred Art located in the Sacred Groves of Osogbo is arguably one of the most impressive contemporary sculpture gardens in the world.

The Sacred Groves is a vital repository of Yoruba history, culture and mythology as one of the last remaining sacred groves in Yorubaland. It is a central meeting point for people around the world interested in traditional culture and heritage in West Africa.

Susanne Wenger did not work for fame or money: in fact she rejected both. She lived by a set of values, which included a great compassion for people, and a dedication to artistic expression.

Susanne Wenger left people and organizations committed to continue her work—the artists of the New Sacred Art Movement, her adopted children Priest and artist Sangodare Ajala and Chief and Priestess Doyin Faniyi, the Adunni Olorisha Trust, the Susanne Wenger Foundation/Stiftung in

Austria and all people who share her commitment to art and heritage in Nigeria.