> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: > Reference:: Irivwieri, Godwin Ogheneruemu. 'Onaism: An Artistic Model of Yoruba Civilization in Nigeria.' African Research Review 4, no. 3a (2010): 234–246. > Date:: 2010 > Tags:: #warp #Nigeria #craftWords > WeftLinks:: [[World Craft Dictionary]] > Claim:: > [!SUMMARY] Summary > This is an artistic movement is committed to the revival of Yoruba art forms, featuring "technomorphs" inspired by techniques of making, including basketry, weaving and matting. ### Highlights # Onaism: An Artistic Model of Yoruba Civilization ## The Concept *Ona* is a Yoruba word with wide application: it means art, design, decoration, pattern, ornament, embellishment, composition, form, and motif. It also names the profession of the artist or designer. The word is deeply dynamic. Derivative forms include *Oni-se-Ona* (he who makes pattern), *Gbena-gbena* (he who carves design), *Dona-dona* (one who decorates), and *Oju-Ona* (eyes for design — a critical, design-conscious gaze). When used in creative context, Ona means arts and aesthetics together. **Onaism** as an artistic movement is committed to the revival of Yoruba art forms, motifs, and philosophies through constant experimentation with local materials, patterns, and images. It is characterised by: - Significant symbols charged with related motifs, giving what the founders called *verbal luminosity* - Dense pattern and ornamentation: scarcely any surface of the picture plane without action - Symbolic imagery whose meanings are often masked from the viewer at first glance - Motifs drawn from geometric, organic, technomorph, animal, floral, utilitarian, and sculptural sources ## Motif Types - **Geometric**: circles, triangles, rectangles, zig-zag lines — precise and mathematical - **Organic**: animal and human forms, plant and floral designs, amoebic forms — fluid and representational - **Technomorphs** (term from Frank Willet): motifs arising from the technique of making — weaving, plaiting, matting — essentially geometric, independent and universal Motifs are classified further as incidental (arising from technique) or designed (symbolic or decorative). Various motifs are combined to create abstract or naturalistic patterns for decorative or symbolic purposes. ## Evolution and Origins The movement emerged in 1988–89 among graduates of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife). Building on their grounding in indigenous African art and Western tradition, the founders sought to fulfil their alma mater's motto — "for learning and culture" — by rooting new work in Ife as a cradle of ancient Yoruba civilisation. The movement connects to the *natural synthesis theory* developed in Nigerian contemporary art in the late 1950s (itself originating with the Zaria Art Society), and stands alongside the Uli movement of the Igbo ethnic group as a parallel assertion of indigenous artistic identity. In scholarly terms, Onaism represents a form of *trans-modernism*: a harmonious combination of past and present to produce something new and forward-looking. ## Founding Members - **Moyosore Okediji** (b.1956) — sensitive intricate line work resembling musical notation; circular formats; soil pigment painting; themes drawn from Yoruba myth - **Olakunle Filani** (b.1957) — printmaker and painter; pen and ink as primary medium; decorative linear drawings; semi-dissected and figurative compositions - **Tola Wewe** (b.1959) — social commentator; Ifa motifs and poetry; cubist and pointillist experiments in an African mode; equestrian and female figures as protest imagery - **Bolaji Campbell** (b.1958) — mixed media including raffia; cross-weave patterns; symbolic use of surface to explore the opacity of human interiority - **Tunde Nasiru** (b.1964) ## Chronological Styles - **Early style (1988–1993)**: conceptual stage; entire picture plane filled with abstract, symbolic textures; highly textured; windows created for spatial depth - **Middle style (1994–1999)**: continuation of traditional format but less compacted; human and animal figures in composition; more realistic - **Later style (2000–2008)**: eclecticism; reduced textures; motifs more representational; individual concept and social commentary foregrounded ## Contributions The Ona movement has contributed to stemming cultural alienation in post-colonial Nigeria. It has ensured that Nigerian visual identity is neither lost nor recolonised. The journal *Kurio Africana*, produced by the founding group, has propagated ideals of African art and aesthetics internationally. The movement has facilitated what the paper calls the "crystallisation of Nigerian visual art" by elevating ornament and pattern into fine art practice. Okediji argued that as Ulism is the most important movement in contemporary Igbo art, Onaism is equally the most significant movement in contemporary Yoruba art. ## Craft Relevance Onaism is directly relevant to craft theory in several respects: - It asserts that ornamentation and pattern are not decorative supplements but carriers of meaning — symbolic systems encoded in surface - It draws explicitly on craft practices (adire dyeing, weaving, carving, matting) as sources of motif and formal language - It models a post-colonial approach to identity through making: neither rejection of Western training nor absorption into it, but a deliberate synthesis grounded in indigenous material culture - The concept of *Oju-Ona* (eyes for design) parallels the craft idea of a trained, embodied perceptual skill