Shaped From Earth | Exhibition Print

Edition: Limited to 10 
Size: 29.7cm x 40cm
Paper: Somerset Velvet for Epson - 255 gsm, 100% cotton rag

A Yorùbá creation story begins with sky above and endless water below, while the orisa dwell in Ọ̀run with Olódùmarè. Seeking a world where life can take root, Ọbàtálá descends by a golden chain with a snail shell of sand, a palm nut, a black cat, and a hen (or cockrel). He pours sand onto the waters, and the bird scratches it outward, forming the first land, Ilé-Ifẹ̀, often translated as “the place of expansion.”

Ọbàtálá then moulds human beings from clay. After drinking fermented palm wine, he continues shaping them in many different forms; when life is breathed into them, variety enters the world, and he vows care for those born different.

Some versions also place Odùduwà alongside Ọbàtálá as a co-founding force, expanding the land and establishing the foundations of human civilisation, a shifting balance used to explain why creation holds both harmony and turbulence.