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The House Was Too Small: Yoruba Sacred Arts from Africa and Beyond


  • Fowler Museum 308 Charles E Young Drive North Los Angeles, CA, 90095 United States (map)

The House Was Too Small brings together over 100 sacred artworks including carved sculpture, vibrant beadwork, dazzling costumes, and other art forms from Nigeria and Benin and across the Yoruba diaspora in Brazil, Cuba, and the U.S. Together these objects trace continuities and innovations within the religious material culture of the Yoruba Atlantic, a cultural sphere profoundly affected by empire-building, colonialism, the violence of enslavement, international trade networks, and global immigration patterns. In this context, the artworks on view speak to how religions are altered in the diaspora and how individuals are transformed through worship.

Fowler staff worked with a collective of religious practitioners, academics, activists, and artists to develop this presentation of masterworks from the Fowler collection. Community advisors also authored a selection of labels for personally meaningful objects. These texts offer uncommon insights gleaned from religious training, scholarly research, artistic vision, and lived experience. For contemporary Ifa practitioner, artist, and abolitionist Patrisse Cullors, Yoruba religiosity is a mode of personal and collective empowerment. This aspect of her faith is realized in Free Us, a multimedia installation within the exhibition.

The exhibition unfolds over five rooms devoted to objects that visualize and enact core spiritual tenets. Throughout the installation, sacred objects from West African Yoruba religion are juxtaposed with comparable pieces from Afro-Brazilian Candomblé and Afro-Cuban Lucumí. The interplay of historical and contemporary objects illustrates the legacy and expanding reach of Yoruba religion.

Opening Program:
Saturday, October 28
5:00-9pm
Details about Opening Program

Hours:
Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 5pm

Free Admission

More information about exhibition

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The American Library

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October 29

Sculptural Basketry: Three-Part Workshop Series