ARTISTIC AND THEMATIC APPERCEPTION ANALYSIS OF YORUBA MYTHICAL TRICKSTER DIVINITY SIMULACRUMS, ‘ERE ESU’

Abstract

Esu, trickster divinity, in Yoruba mythology, is believed to have been emanated from the Supreme Deity, Olodumare, as a maleficent supernatural being to fulfill the will of God in the theocratic administration of the earth. In Yoruba theology and panthiesm, this deity represents a baleful creature and is also regarded as the most important deity among divinities in Yoruba theology with separate temples, shrines and priests. This could be associated with the belief in a non-physical entity of this deity and his certain essential characteristics. However, the visual and material representations of this Yoruba mythical divinity in terms of sculpturesque effigies and unified symbolic motifs are diverse in dialectical hermeneutics and are often christened differently by social groups and devotees to denote goal-directed representation. Studies of these sculptural renditions and tactual explorations of the attributed symbols have not been seriously considered using thematic apperception analysis. On this point, the artistic and literal interpretations of this deity demand conceptual discussion for material explication and palpation of Yoruba tradition and creativity.The paper therefore examines artistic perceptions and representational process of diverse trickster god, Esu, for interpretation of Yoruba cognitive expression. Direct field investigation, descriptive and analytical methods were combined for critical examination of the selected artifacts of the trickster divinity. The findings revealed that what characterize and exemplify Esu’s simulacrums are symbolic representations, prevalent iconic-motifs and conceptualization by which the context is represented and all the effigies are morphologically similar to those used in the past.