Anjenu shrine figure
Anjenu river spirits are characterized as dream haunters and the source of infertility and ill-health in Idoma society. In an effort to appease them, women offer bottles of river water and calabash gourds at dedicated shrines. The priestess responsible for a given site of veneration may also incur the cost of commissioning a work such as this one, its arms raised in a gesture of praise. Culturally hybrid, anjenu figures combine aspects of Igala and Hausa nature spirits with those of the pan-African water deity Mami Wata.
From the 1930s through 1978, Oklenyi produced masquerade headpieces and shrine figures for local Idoma patrons and their Igala neighbors. A hallmark of his original style is a rounded mouth, filled with neat rows of teeth, set off at the corners by prominent cicatrices. Documentation of Oklenyi’s work by American scholar Roy Sieber led to its collection outside of the region.
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