The Power of the Mind
_ Cylindrical Head, The Yoruba people of Ile Ife, 13th – 14th Century. Terracotta. Height 6 1/2". Museum of Ife Antiquities, Ife.
This sculpture was loosely crafted and sculpted using terracotta. The figure depicted is not a full body, it is only meant to be the representation of a head. Very simple techniques were used to create the eyes and mouth, just two holes and a slit were enough to express the facial forms of this sculpted head. The texture of the rounded shape is very course and rough. The top of the head protrudes upward five or six rounded knobs arranged seemingly random. The Yoruba people have a belief that there is such a thing as the head of a person that is very much visible, the ori ode, and conceivable to other human beings and that there is also a head that no human can see or know of its appearance. This inner head, or ori inu, represents the spiritual being and true form of a person. This spiritual manifestation can only be expressed through use of the imagination, hence the free, abstracted technique used to depict such a phenomenon. This cylindrical head represents the physical manifestation of a power of the mind that holds the truest form of a human being. That is an amazing ability for the mind to be able to contain such spiritual truth of self.
This sculpture was loosely crafted and sculpted using terracotta. The figure depicted is not a full body, it is only meant to be the representation of a head. Very simple techniques were used to create the eyes and mouth, just two holes and a slit were enough to express the facial forms of this sculpted head. The texture of the rounded shape is very course and rough. The top of the head protrudes upward five or six rounded knobs arranged seemingly random. The Yoruba people have a belief that there is such a thing as the head of a person that is very much visible, the ori ode, and conceivable to other human beings and that there is also a head that no human can see or know of its appearance. This inner head, or ori inu, represents the spiritual being and true form of a person. This spiritual manifestation can only be expressed through use of the imagination, hence the free, abstracted technique used to depict such a phenomenon. This cylindrical head represents the physical manifestation of a power of the mind that holds the truest form of a human being. That is an amazing ability for the mind to be able to contain such spiritual truth of self.