Summoning the Ancestors explores a collection of 72 ofo (small
ritual objects) and 74 bells produced in southern Nigeria by Igala,
Igbo, Edo, Yoruba, and other neighboring peoples, which was gifted
to the Fowler Museum by Mark Clayton. The use of bronze ofo,
dynamic symbols of one's relationship with the ancestors, dates
back to at least the fifteenth century. Ofo likely derive from
wire-wrapped bundles of twigs from a tree venerated in southern
Nigeria. Bells-largely made in the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth
centuries-were cast in copper alloys of bronze or brass, using the
lost-wax technique. Many were rung to invoke ancestors or nature
spirits, and some announced the presence of important members of
the living world, such as priests or local rulers. Richly
illustrated, Summoning the Ancestors highlights the remarkable
degree of variation possible even in such modest artistic genres.
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