「アーティスト」の再考

――ナイジェリア、ヨルバ発祥の地方都市イレ・イフェにおけるつくり手の事例から――

抄録

  Focusing on those in Ile-Ife who call themselves ‘artist’, this paper aims to reveal how they give meaning to the word ‘art’ and ‘artist’ with a question of how their ‘art’ relates to hegemonic Western convention of art.

  Ile-Ife in south-western Nigeria is known as the birthplace of Yoruba, one of the three largest ethnic groups in the country. As the cradle of Yoruba, Ile-Ife is often mentioned when archaeological discoveries of pottery, bronze and brass sculptures, wood carvings and bead work, which are often called ‘Yoruba Art’, are discussed.

  Today, Ile-Ife is a provincial city, with a population of 400,000, and it is where the prominent university is located. Here, students and scholars coming from the local neighbourhood and other parts of the country follow courses in painting, sculpture, ceramics, textile design, graphic design and art history provided by Fine Arts Department. There are also artists with various backgrounds working in the city outside the campus.

  In previous studies of anthropology and art history, the art of Ile-Ife and that of Yorubaland has been investigated and represented in terms of its symbolic forms, meaning, social functions, its relationship with artists and Yoruba culture from a view-point called ‘Yoruba Art’. These studies, however, have not confronted the question of what is art and who is an artist in the society. Focusing on the view-point of local artists, this paper, therefore, investigates what they call art and who they call artist. In addition to the English word ‘artist’ which is normally used by them, it also focuses on the Yoruba words ‘oníṣẹ́-ọnà’ and ‘oníṣẹ́-ọwọ́’ which are sometimes translated as ‘artist’ by them. Through their activities and statements, this paper reveals how local artists give these words meaning.

  Having examined the above, it reveals that they are dependent on the modern institutions of the ‘Art-Culture System’ (Clifford 1988) when they call themselves ‘artist’. However, it is also pointed out that they are not always controlled by it but the concepts of ‘art’ and ‘artist’ are realized and exist in a way that is unique to Ile-Ife. This promotes further examination to reveal ‘art’ of Ile-Ife by studying institutional and social background in which artists' values and standards are decided. Therefore, it continues to enquire into the possibilities of ways of life of ‘artists’ and ‘art’ which can challenge the hegemonic Western convention of art.