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Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò - Culture (6) - Nairaland

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Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 2:55am On Aug 07, 2012
I'm not sure of what this is, seems similar to the other murals posted. Maybe a compound wall or gate.



The ground looks very uneven though, so I'm unsure of what the certain use of this wall is.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 2:57am On Aug 07, 2012


"Wall of compound."

Looks to be uri/uli painting on the wall similar to the other compounds posted.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:01am On Aug 07, 2012
Door which I think would be the opening to a compound, making it a gate.



These kind of doors are mainly from what is now known and Anambra State.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:03am On Aug 07, 2012


Unknown European figures, possibly in an Mbari shrine. The style of the Europeans and the patterns in the background walls are similar to that of most Mbari houses.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:07am On Aug 07, 2012
Unknown origin, possibly the Western Igbo since the statues are similar to the ones from Agbor.

Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:09am On Aug 07, 2012


Afikpo, Simon Ottenberg, 1950s. Some masquerades in front of large clustered mud houses.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:11am On Aug 07, 2012


Female figure from an Mbari. Possibly a spirit? The marks on her face are traditional Igbo make-up painted with an indigo dyeing plant named uri.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:13am On Aug 07, 2012


Obu (man’s house) Ohafia. G. I. Jones.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:15am On Aug 07, 2012
[img]http://www.stlawu.edu/gallery/images/04beier1.jpg[/img]

"The custom of building mbari houses, monuments honoring Ala, the Igbo creator goddess, is limited to a region in Nigeria around the town of Owerri. Mbari are unfired, painted mud figures constructed by young boys and girls from a certain age group who work under the supervision of senior craftsmen. The artists, working from nine months to a year, live in total seclusion outside the village on a piece of land that has been fenced in with palm leaves. A mbari house is not a shrine. After a sacrifice is brought to Ala, no further ceremonies take place there. Exposed to wind and rain, the figures crumble within a few years, and then the next age group will construct new mbari.

Some key figures must be represented in these monuments: Ala, the earth goddess with a child sitting on her lap, typically wields a sword in her right hand; her consort, Amadi Oha, the god of thunder, is often dressed in a topee and tie like a British district officer; and various river goddesses serve to affirm the cycles of nature. Young artists invent other gods, people, and animals: Christ in a schoolboy’s uniform, a schoolteacher with a book, a tailor with a sewing machine, women in childbirth, gorillas, monkeys, dogs, horses, leopards, and horned fantasy creatures called “elephants.”

The ephemeral quality of mbari is essential to its meaning and purpose. It would have been easy enough for the builders to protect the figures from wind and rain, or the artists could construct heavy, solid forms with arms closely attached to the body, like the mud figures found in Benin City in shrines dedicated to Olokun, the god of the sea. However, mbari artists seem to provoke decay by representing Ala with an outstretched arm, or portraying a leopard pouncing onto a goat. In the mbari tradition, the act of creation is more important than the finished object. The function of the building is to honor the goddess of creation and thereby ensure the productivity of the earth and the survival of the community. The very short life span of mbari houses allows every age group in the village to participate in this eternal cycle.

-Ulli Beier"

http://www.stlawu.edu/gallery/exhibit-f04.htm#mbari
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:23am On Aug 07, 2012


Thatching with palm leaf mats, among the Igbo people.
Basden, G. T. Among the Ibos of Nigeria. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1921, pg. 168.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 1:00am On Aug 09, 2012


"Head and neck of a female figure, with painted face and elaborate hairstyle or headdress. Setting is interior of Mbari house. J Stocker, 1880-1939."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 1:01am On Aug 09, 2012


"CHUKUEGGU S “MBARI CULTURAL ART CENTRE” AT HIS HOME IN MBAISE, NORTH OF THE REGION OF TRADITIONAL CLAY MBARI HOUSES. NOTE THE VERBAL AND VISUAL EMPHASIS ON INDIGENOUS CULTURE.
— Herbert M. Cole"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 1:05am On Aug 09, 2012


"ULI MOTIFS ON A SHRINE TO THE SPIRIT OGBANJE. AGULU, 1987.
— Liz Willis"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 1:08am On Aug 10, 2012
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 4:53pm On Aug 10, 2012


"Carved figure in front of Juh-Juh House, Arochuku.
Macalister, Donald A. “The Aro Country, Southern Nigeria.” The Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. XII. 1902."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 9:49pm On Aug 10, 2012
[img]http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/inscribing/images/eduimages/3.-Uli-Adams-fig-14LG.jpg[/img]

"Uli artist Agbaejije Anunobi creating a mural on an obi, a men's meetinghouse
Photograph by Sarah Adams, 2000

Uli is a historically ephemeral form of mural and body painting practiced predominantly by female artists in Igbo-speaking regions of southeastern Nigeria. Once very common in southeastern Nigeria, Uli body and mural painting were used in different contexts depending on the region. In some areas, commissioned artists painted shrines annually for local festivals. In other areas, artists painted their own homes or compound walls in honor of specific events, such as title takings or weddings. In the 1970s, the Nsukka Group-contemporary artists associated with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka-drew inspiration from uli and nsibidi designs. Incorporating the designs into their works and experimenting with their forms and meanings, these artists created yet another context in which these graphic systems thrived. Artists in the group included Tayo Adenaike, El Anatsui, Chika Aniakor and Ada Udechukwu, Obiora Udechukwu, Olu Oguibe and Uche Okeke."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 9:53pm On Aug 10, 2012
Building behind. Igbuzo, Delta State.

[img]http://1.bp..com/_jeBv7EEofYQ/TVLTE_LpJfI/AAAAAAAAAPU/Dof8UpeBBJE/s1600/Young%2BIgbuzor%2Bwomen.jpg[/img]

"YOUNG IBO WOMEN OF IBUZA, ASABA DISTRICT, WITH CICATRIZED DESIGNS ON BODIES.


— Kitson

Location: Igbuzor, Aniocha, Alaigbo | Date: ?Unsure?, Before 1912 | Credit: A. E. Kitson"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:26pm On Aug 11, 2012


"AKAKPORO’S APPRENTICE GODWIN MODELS A STANDING MAN IN THE NNOBIE HOUSE. AN ARMATURE OF GREEN WOOD HOLDS THE “YAM” IN PLACE.
— Herbert M. Cole, 1969."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:30pm On Aug 11, 2012


"SHRINE TO THE GODDESS EKE AT UKE MARKET, NEWLY REPAINTED WITH ULI DESIGNS ON THE OCCASION OF THE EKE FESTIVAL, 1987. CARVED LIFE-SIZE FIGURES OF MINOR DEITIES AND SPIRITS (NKWU) ARE ALSO RECLOTHED AND REDECORATED. IN EARLIER TIMES THESE FIGURES WOULD HAVE BEEN DECORATED WITH ULI PAINTING.
— Liz Willis"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:36pm On Aug 11, 2012
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:38pm On Aug 11, 2012
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 3:42pm On Aug 11, 2012
[img]http://1.bp..com/_Stxpm3xeRpI/SYSmIAqquNI/AAAAAAAAAQE/tly0YrjEla8/s1600/Site+3+-+Side+buttress.JPG[/img] [img]http://3.bp..com/_Stxpm3xeRpI/SYSmIHMAbqI/AAAAAAAAAP8/X62fFDNPciM/s1600/Site+3+-+god.JPG[/img]
[img]http://1.bp..com/_Stxpm3xeRpI/SYSmH1x3dAI/AAAAAAAAAP0/tj1b-jrzisk/s1600/Site+3+-+Python+symbol.JPG[/img] [img]http://4.bp..com/_Stxpm3xeRpI/SYSmHzXiRiI/AAAAAAAAAPs/BETC0g3NJ10/s1600/Site+3+-+messenger+to+the+god.JPG[/img]

"Site 3 (Plate 48 in Cole)
CLEMENT OPARA (Informant)
Umunan, in Imerienwe

The goddess of this Mbari is Uramarukwa who is a river goddess. She protects people from evil in this village. Built before 1947 might be late 30’s. Between 1929 when the women rioted and before 1941 before the second World War.

He inherited the Mbari from his father, OPARABCHA EKEODA.

Materials: The red earth has come from far and is symbolic, in that its importance is really that it is a natural material and that cement is an invention not nature - so that even if they had cement it would still be made of earth. It symbolises the Igbo’s relationship to the earth. It shows an identity."

http://wwwmbari..co.uk/2009/01/121108-site-3.html
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:08pm On Aug 11, 2012


"The compound is called Ezi followed by the name of its founder, who is also usually the original ancestor of the patrilineage. The houses in many compounds, particularly those increasing in population, are built wall to wall and back to back, separated by narrow alleyways and streets winding tortuously here and there. There is usually a separate house for each man and for each woman and her children. New houses in the compound are constructed for a person by young age sets in the major lineage under the watchful eye of the uke ekpe grade and the major lineage elders. Any male member, or any independent woman associated with a minor patrilineage may erect a house on unused compound land. Once built, the house and the land on which it stands become the property of the minor patrilineage.
[Ottenberg S., 1968: Double Descent in an African Society; the Afikpo Village-Group. University of Washington Press]."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:09pm On Aug 11, 2012


Igbo yam market, J Stocker, 1880-1939.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:10pm On Aug 11, 2012


"Tom Ibe, my field assistant wearing okpu ngwo (hat-raffia). Diviners (dibia) use it when carrying sacred objects for swearing an oath somewhere, but anyone can do so when it rains. Ancient hat form rarely seen nowadays. Note that it was used in Afikpo Yam Priest’s compound the day of first cooking of new yams.
[Ottenberg field research notes, September 1959-December 1960, Part I]."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:11pm On Aug 11, 2012


"Elogo obiogo, the resthouse of Elogo ward, Mgbom village, Afikpo Village-Group, Nigeria.

The Afikpo village is variable in size but its fundamental structure consists of a grouping of major patrilineages, often divided into wards, around a central common or several commons, with its resthouse and ward shrines. Mgbom village is composed of three main wards of fifteen compounds, Agbogo (lower village), Elogo (upper village) and Amozo. The resthouse, the central gathering place for the ward men, is a place to sit and roast yams, and sometimes sleep. From the house they can watch persons come and go in the common and hear the latest news from the other villages, discuss some dispute or case, or learn what plans the Europeans or educated Nigerians are now hatching.
[Ottenberg S., 1971: Leadership and Authority in an African Society; the Afikpo Village-Group. University of Washington Press]."
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:15pm On Aug 11, 2012


Mural on an Mbari temple of the Oratta Igbo.
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:15pm On Aug 11, 2012


"CHUKUEGGU S “MBARI CULTURAL ART CENTRE” AT HIS HOME IN MBAISE, NORTH OF THE REGION OF TRADITIONAL CLAY MBARI HOUSES. NOTE THE VERBAL AND VISUAL EMPHASIS ON INDIGENOUS CULTURE.
— Herbert M. Cole"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:16pm On Aug 11, 2012
Not really a detailed picture, but you can get a good idea of the planning of the compound.



"PERSONAL SHRINE TO THE COURTYARD EARTH IN THE ANCESTRAL HOUSE OF JERRY UGBO, ONITSHA.
— Richard N. Henderson and Ifekandu Umunna"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:18pm On Aug 11, 2012
This is a masquerade, but it's so big that it can be considered architecture (like a tent/tipi). Omambara region.



"IJELE UNDER CONSTRUCTION BY NWEKE KOGULU AND THREE ASSISTANTS AT UMUEZEDE ACHALLA IN 1983. THE MASK WAS LATER DISPLAYED AT THE 1984 EXHIBITION “IGBO ARTS COMMUNITY AND COSMOS,” OR-GANIZED BY THE MUSEUM OF CULTURAL HISTORY UCLA.
— Richard N. Henderson and Ifekandu Umunna"
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by Nobody: 5:18pm On Aug 11, 2012
ezeagu:

"CHUKUEGGU S “MBARI CULTURAL ART CENTRE” AT HIS HOME IN MBAISE, NORTH OF THE REGION OF TRADITIONAL CLAY MBARI HOUSES. NOTE THE VERBAL AND VISUAL EMPHASIS ON INDIGENOUS CULTURE.
— Herbert M. Cole"

LOL @ the ape/man
Re: Igbo Architecture | Ụlọ omé n'Ìgbò by ezeagu(m): 5:20pm On Aug 11, 2012
Roofing structure. Thatch. Now Abia State.



"Abiriba"

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