Ornamentation In Yoruba Domestic Architecture In Osogbo: A Study In Form, Content And Meaning

 ABSTRACT

This study examined Yoruba ornamentation in domestic architecture in Osogbo consonant with its form, content and meaning. Ornamentation connotes decoration for the purpose of enhancing aesthetic appeal of buildings or any object in context. It is noted in literature that Yoruba aesthetic decorative instinct is reflective of a number of day to day material uses, activities and gestures, which are further translated in domestic building elements. The method of research adopted in this study was historical and qualitative. The qualitative method involved observation and identification of ornamentation in buildings and documentation in photographs in addition to oral interviews. The historical method prompted the classifications of data collected into the ancient, modern and contemporary as well as their placement on building elements relative to the chronology of the buildings and periods. The interviews provided oral historical data, thereby revealing both private Yoruba contextual meanings and global interpretation of artistic decorations as well as the value of ornamentation on domestic architecture in Osogbo. Findings from the study indicated that the ancient category of ornamentation in domestic buildings had more decorations than the modern genre. This is attributed to the influence of the colonial administrators, the returnee slaves from Portugal, Brazil and Sierra Leone. Findings also showed that ornamentation became more heightened in the contemporary than the ancient and modern classifications put together.

The study concluded that the value of ornamentation is embraced in Osogbo following the proliferation of workmen contributing their skills and talents to the production of exclusive aesthetic edifices The subject of ornamentation in domestic buildings was in addition observed to be the exclusive preserve of the rich; though the effect of domestic decoration was observed to have percolated to the poor and middle class of the society. Decorative motifs, forms and designs generally do not get out of use but are cyclical as ancient motifs reoccur in contemporary elemental decorations in domestic buildings.