Susanne Wenger

Susanne Wenger MFR, also known as Adunni Olorisha (4 July 1915 – 12 January 2009), was an Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess [1] who expatriated to Nigeria.

She later continued her studies, first at the Higher Graphical Federal Education and Research Institute and then at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alongside, among others, Herbert Boeckl.

[7] After the end of World War II, Wenger was an employee of the communist children's magazine Unsere Zeitung ("Our Newspaper").

[4] After living in Italy and Switzerland and upon the suggestion of Egger, in 1949 Wenger went to Paris,[4] where she met her future husband, the linguist Ulli Beier.

[9] Ajagemo introduced Wenger to the Yoruba world view, language and religion, and both individuals soon developed a special bond.

[7] Upon the invitation of an Osun high priestess who was troubled by commercial interests and termites destroying shrine facilities, sacred sculptures and carvings, Wenger teamed up with the Public Works Department and many local area artists to eradicate the termites and also redevelop the carvings and buildings within the shrine using both wood and cement.

[14] Her works at the grove are influenced by traditional Yoruba religion, but deviate from previous pieces that concentrated on gods and goddesses.

Wenger's group of apprentices had a history of craftsmanship within their lineages, so they helped her redevelop and redecorate the ancient shrines and made sculptures influenced by Yoruba mythology.

Wenger's life and work at Osun Grove is the subject of The Oshun Diaries, a memoir by Diane Esguerra (Eye Books, 2019).

Osun grove