Gourmet Magazine Article

Oshogbo

Stephan Faris, Gourmet Magazine, Fall 2001

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With clustered red roofs rolling through church-topped hills, Oshogbo seems at first almost Tuscan, a breath of Italy in southwestern Nigeria. However, a closer look reveals unfinished concrete chapels and roofs red from rust, not terracotta. In Tuscany, history is enmeshed in the buildings, but Oshogbo’s heritage lies elsewhere - sheltered from the sprawl in a patch of rainforest.

The grove has long been sacred to the Yoruba people. The first Oshogboans are said to have stopped their migration in the half-light of its broad-leafed trees. On the banks of the Oshun river, and with help from the goddess inhabiting it, their princess gave birth to the city’s first king. When the travelers then sought to settle, the goddess asked only that they move further uphill so her waters would not be disturbed.

Except for a few shrines and temples, the forest remained untouched for centuries. But that it survived the recent decades, when much of Nigeria’s rainforests were falling to farms and cities, can largely be credited to an Austrian sculptor named Suzanne Wenger. Since arriving in Oshogbo nearly 50 years ago, Wenger has completely adopted its culture, striving not only to preserve the grove, but also to enhance it. With bent steel, concrete and teams of carpenters and masons, Wenger reshaped the faded shrines into fairy-tale curves, peopling the forest with abstract figures in what she calls "new sacred art." Buildings flow through the foliage. Concrete gods taller than trees lift their hands to the sky, and stone goblins haunt the bushes of the grove’s the slender paths. The effect is unique, mystical, touched at times with a hint of Hieronymus Bosch.

Wenger is 86 now, textured with wrinkles. Though her original partners are mostly dead, she continues to work in the grove. As long as she lives, the shrines will be tended. But she worries what will happen once she’s gone.

There is hope. Wenger will leave an artistic tradition. Its beams and doors may be rotting, but her Brazilian house remains its center; you can smell the dark-wooded statues. What’s more, Wenger’s work has turned Oshogbo into a center of Yoruba cultural pride. Its yearly Oshun festival held to thank the goddess attracts thousands from all religions.

Who knows? With a lot luck, Oshogbo might one day match the architectural grandeur of Siena or Florence. But with only a little good fortune, it will continue to protect its most ancient heritage.