The Yoruba aesthetic is a combination of color, form, culture cues, functionality and minimalism. Over the years as a designer I’ve come to understand the ethos of the Yoruba traditional arts and crafts and its built on a foundation of beliefs, locality and the human being’s determination to evolve and thrive in any living condition. I am presently doing more research on “the YORUBA aesthetic” which will possibly guide me in creating my interventions, my question now is “How can I use my Yoruba culture cues to create a new design narrative” I think its perfect and it has slowly revealed itself and I’m quite happy with my direction and I believe it will create the interventions I seek to accomplish.
Heres some research I have been doing.
This wooden sculpture created by an unknown Yoruba artist from Nigeria in West Africa, depicts a kneeling material figure with a nursing child in her arms, while carrying another child on her back.
The Yoruba believe that if an artist has a beautiful mind, the beauty will translate into the execution of their art. Therefore to create “well done” work, one must have a honorable personal “íwà” which requires a specific worldview recognizing and respecting the uniqueness in everyone and everything. Only then can an artist tap into his creative “íwà” which is employed to create “well made” work according to art critics (Abiodun 22) – Kelsey Barnes ’16, Anthropology and Art History.
“The enlightened ones” is an imaginative and conceptual understanding that few people have been selected and knowledge is passed from their generation to the next through a genetical channel. I believe the Yoruba aesthetic follows this ideology.
“We are here, We’ve been here, We’ll always be here” – A phrase coined from this school of thought.
“The modernity ball” represents “wisdom, knowledge and understanding” that transcends through time and space – A collective of intellectual achievements from our past, present and future – A powerful yet gentle energy that slowly descends and hovers holistically over the chosen one.