Agrefa

The Agrefa is a Yoruba sculpture of a woman holding her breasts. It is used for those women who give birth but are unable to breast-feed the child, sometimes for women who cannot bear children. The depiction of the woman kneeling and holding her breasts, is well known in Yoruba carving. Kneeling female figures, often nude, are common in their religious art. Among the Yoruba, lifting breasts is a gesture of greeting, offering, acceptance. She is adorned with ritual blue powder.

The arts of the Yoruba are numerous. The complexity of their cosmology has led Western scholars to compare them to the ancient Greeks.

Material: wood