Renowned Nigerian master wood carver Kasali Akangbe Ogun has been buried following his death last week after a brief illness.
He came from a long line of wood carvers from the Yoruba people, and took the tradition from his birthplace of Osogbo in the country's south-west to the global art space.
Akangbe Ogun was famous for his 'unique artistic style, characterised by lean, elongated faces and dynamic, flowing forms', noted Nigerian art patron Olufemi Akinsanya.
He was one of the leading lights of the New Sacred Art Movement, founded by the late Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess, Susanne Wenger, in the 1960s, to help protect the 75-hectare Osun Forest and its river.
The grove, on the outskirts of Osogbo city, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 for its cultural significance in the cosmology of the Yoruba and as the largest protected high primary forest in the region.
We will continue to plant trees because heritage must not be left naked, Akangbe Ogun told me when I visited him in 2020.
His art 'stands as a testament to a life committed to faith, community, and visual poetry,' said curator Osei Bonsu.
According to historian Siyan Oyeweso, Osogbo 'has always played a very, very active role in the making of the art masters.'
Akangbe Ogun was pivotal in safeguarding the forest and its sacred river, which is the focus of the annual Osun Osogbo Festival, drawing thousands of worshippers and tourists each year.
His legacy lives on through his children and the artworks scattered throughout the Osun Grove, as well as his influence in the art world, which includes notable exhibitions around the globe.
Reflecting on his life, Akangbe Ogun once remarked: 'I am a dot, just a dot, connecting the past to the present and the future.'
