Whirling Return of the Ancestors

Egúngún Arts of the Yorùbá in Africa and Beyond

Whirling Return of the Ancestors presents the rich and varied artistry of Egúngún masquerades and other arts inspired by a tradition that honors and celebrates the power and eternal presence of ancestors among Yorùbá peoples in West Africa.

Yorùbá conceive of the cosmos as consisting of two separate but interacting realms: The world of the living, and the otherworld of spiritual beings, among them ancestors who continue to guide their descendants. This dynamic relationship is expressed in a Yorùbá saying: "The world is a marketplace [we visit], the otherworld is home" (Ayé l'ọjà, ọ̀run n'ilé).

Egúngún masquerades are collaborative family and community creations involving reflection, remembrance, and renewal. They range from the fearsome to the fashionable. Textiles are the primary medium of Egúngún. Yorùbá say, "cloth only wears to shreds," (Yẹ́´yẹ́yẹ́ l'asọ í gbó), that is, it is ever-lasting, like ever-present ancestors.

Egúngún are made of layers upon layers of disparate fabrics, some locally woven and re-worked, others industrially manufactured from all parts of the planet. Each three-dimensional Egúngún (meaning "powers concealed") materializes the fourth dimension: the spiritual realm of the departed. Its varied media enclose and activate the trance-formation of the masquerader who becomes the spirit of an ancestor, embodying the infinite cycle of birth, life, departure and return. When an Egúngún whirls, it creates a "breeze of blessing."

As you experience and learn about these arts honoring Yorùbá ancestors, consider the ways in which you honor and celebrate your own ancestors.

Contents: Traveling exhibit of approx. 25-30 pieces (2-3 ensembles, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and film); fee of $20,000 plus shipping.