Nigeria Mourning the Loss of Wood Carving Virtuoso Kasali Akangbe Ogun

Tue Jan 20 2026 10:05:30 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The renowned Nigerian master wood carver, Kasali Akangbe Ogun, has passed away, leaving behind a rich legacy in traditional Yoruba art and environmental preservation.

Kasali Akangbe Ogun, a prominent figure in the New Sacred Art Movement of Nigeria, has been laid to rest after passing away from a brief illness. Known for his unique wood carving style, Ogun's work was instrumental in both preserving Yoruba culture and protecting the sacred Osun Forest. His contributions to art and environmentalism are being celebrated as a part of his enduring legacy.

Renowned Nigerian master wood carver Kasali Akangbe Ogun has been buried following his death last week after a brief illness. He came from a long line of wood carvers from the Yoruba people and took the tradition from his birthplace of Osogbo in the country's south-west to the global art space.

Akangbe Ogun was famous for his unique artistic style, characterised by lean, elongated faces and dynamic, flowing forms, noted Nigerian art patron Olufemi Akinsanya.

He was one of the leading lights of the New Sacred Art Movement, founded by the late Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess, Susanne Wenger, in the 1960s, to help protect the 75-hectare Osun Forest and its river.

We will continue to plant trees because heritage must not be left naked, Akangbe Ogun told me when I visited him in 2020.

The grove, on the outskirts of Osogbo city, was designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2005 for its cultural significance in the cosmology of the Yoruba and as the largest protected high primary forest in the region.

Echoing Ogun’s impact, historian Siyan Oyeweso remarked, Osogbo has always played a very, very active role in the making of the art masters. Those were the people who sacrificed their lives and time, and gave devotion, energy and soul to the mission of Osun Osogbo and Nigeria.

Reflecting on his legacy, he stated in 2020: What pleases me the most is that my children have learned the wood carving art; they have inherited the legacy. The work will live on through my children. His passing marks a significant loss in the preservation of Yoruba cultural heritage and environmental advocacy.