Chief Priest Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala

Lead Artist of the New Sacred Art Movement 

Director of Restoration: Osun Osogbo Groves 

Trustee: The Adunni Olorisha Trust/Osun Foundation

Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala is one of Nigeria’s finest artists and a true representative of traditional Yoruba culture.   Sangodare lives in Osogbo, Nigeria and in addition to his work as an artist, he is a practicing traditional Yoruba Sango (God of Thunder) Priest and Herbalist.  Sangodare leads the art movement in Nigeria, founded by the late Susanne Wenger, called “The New Sacred Art Movement”.

Sangodare was raised by Susanne Wenger, an Austrian artist and Priestess living in Osogbo.  He was born in 1948, the first child of a very elderly and highly titled, powerful Sango Priest.  Sangodare was only eleven when he underwent the strong and difficult initiation rituals as the incarnation of Sango.  A year later, upon the death of his father, he was brought to Susanne Wenger.

Susanne did not allow him to go to local schools, where he would be pressured to convert to either Christianity or Islam. Instead, Sango was educated as a traditionalist and herbalist, and he determinedly taught himself to read and write in Yoruba and English.

At an early age Sango began to paint, under Susanne’s watchful eye, and later chose to focus on batik, in his own style. In her words:  “He creates these batiks with wildness and an explosive power, which are typical for the Orisa whose incarnation he is…He is the perfect example of what I call ‘art as ritual’.”

Sangodare’s art communicates the rich complexity of his heritage and his own spirituality.  The inspirations for his extraordinary batiks are Yoruba mythology and ritual as experienced through his own practice. His art provides a bridge between traditional Yoruba wisdom and the changed world of which he has also become a part.

Sangodare has exhibited his batiks all over the world, both with Susanne Wenger and in solo exhibitions.  Exhibitions have been held in Nigeria, Austria, Germany, the UK, France, Germany, the USA, Brazil and Cuba. In 2010 Sangodare won Nigeria’s prestigious National Art Competition Golden Jubilee Award.

In addition his work as an artist, Priest and herbalist, Sango manages the restoration of the monumental Shrines and sculptures created by Susanne Wenger and the New Sacred Art Movement in the Sacred Groves of Osogbo, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with funds raised by the Adunni Olorisha Trust.