Footnotes

Provenance
A private collection, UK.

Literature
Safy Quel, ed., Bruce Onobrakpeya: Symbols of Ancestral Groves. Monograph of Prints and Paintings, 1978-1985 (Lagos: Ovuomaroro Gallery, 1985), no. 115, p. 106 (illustrated, pp. 3 & 200).
Dozie Igweze, The Storyteller of Agbarha-Otor: Bruce Onobrakpeya's Visual Tales (Lagos: Hourglass Books, 2018), p. 79 (illustrated, p. 78).

In Atete Gwre Ighoro-o, Onobrakpeya depicts two poles supporting a third bar to form an entrance gate. 'A mat filled with charms is tied around the cross-bar at the middle. Suspended from the cross-bar is the "Atete" (straw-tray) with charms tied to its middle. Also suspended from the cross-bar are the "Ibosu" and "Ukpebo" (red and white pieces of cloth), a large "Ukokogho" (gourd containing charm), and a bunch of plantain. In front of the right wooden pole are "Erhi" figurines. Ehri are guardian angels with wings like butterflies' (Quel, 1985: p. 106). Horizontal lines lead up from the decorated entrance 'which suggest steps leading to the compound or the village. These lines harmonise with the linear structures of the mud walls and thatch roofs. The whole composition shows a built-up area that is both a house for the physical and the spiritual side of man' (Quel, 1985: p. 106).

Bibliography
Safy Quel, ed., Bruce Onobrakpeya: Symbols of Ancestral Groves. Monograph of Prints and Paintings, 1978-1985 (Lagos: Ovuomaroro Gallery, 1985).