Today, I decided to visit the Dramatic and Music Art department of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The statues have existed there for a long time - long before I got to know about the school itself. However, I have not really taken any time to move close to them until today. I took shots of the statues and try to decode a plausible short story behind each statue. Enjoy!
An African warlord that just came back from a major battle in which he was victorious over his enemy. He decapitated the head of the commander of the enemy's army, scooped some of his blood into a horn gourd, and displayed both to his people.
Here is a very skillful drummer playing one of the popular Yoruba drums.
An African woman coming from the market carrying the bounties of the market on her head and holding her bag with one hand.
A palm wine tapper coming from the farm. On one hand is the palm wine gourd while on the other hand is the palm tree climber
A poor, homeless, and semi-naked woman who's begging for alms to support herself on the street.
A brave hunter engaging in a fierce battle with a lion with his only weapon being a barbed club
An old naked woman with a walking stick and using the grinding stone
A football dazzling his audience
A semi-naked man trying to shoot down prey with his catapult
An African god sitting on his throne
A man trying to pieces a log of wood with his cutlass
12 A uniformed soldier
Ok, I admit. No idea about this one.
One hand, this looks like a hug. On the other hand, it looks like a brawl.
A naked man carrying an injured man on his back.
Looks like the man is injured and the woman is trying to persuade her to endure till they get medical help. Come on! It's just a minute more.
A famous Yoruba god, Oduduwa, in his full regalia. Oduduwa is believed to be the god that created the earth. He descended from heaving with a handful of sand and a cockerel. The entire earth was covered with water. He poured the sand on the water and the cockerel helped to spread it around and dry land was achieved.
Seems like someone got cursed by the gods and is on course to get swallowed by the mother earth.
Looks like this man (no cloth on as usual) was trying to pour some palm wine from the gourd into the calabash using a modified straw.
Ok. This is waht a brawl looks like. Looks tough
A fierce-looking raven.
Looks like a king in his regalia, except the crown.
A hunter carrying his Dane gun returning from an episode of hunting with his bounty.
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All images were shot using iPhone 6S