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Iconicity and Migration as Paradigms in the Aesthetic Transformation of Yoruba Art in the West

Christopher Adejumo

The ubiquity of traditional icons in Yoruba art has often been attributed to the longevity and continuity of Yoruba religious institutions and cults. Others have ascribed the proliferation and sustenance of exquisite Yoruba icons to the enduring legacy of the Yoruba art apprenticeship system. More recently, some have credited the endurance of Yoruba icons to the alchemic adaptation of traditional signs and symbols by contemporary Yoruba artists. Whatever position an observer takes, it is clear that both object and conceptual ideas have played significant roles in the continuity of various genres of Yoruba icons and artwork in general.
At the present time, several practicing Yoruba artists have relocated abroad. This paper examines the causation of the migration of Yoruba artists to the West. The impact of this migration on the work of the artists is discussed with emphasis on aesthetic transformation.