The Forgotten Old versus the Resurgent New: Rethinking Sexuality, Spirituality, and Eroticism through Mbari Art in Igboland, Nigeria

Traditional Mbari [also read as Mbari houses] found in Owerri, southeastern Nigeria, are distinctively, creative phenomena. Mbari are ritual houses filled with colorful architectural tableaux – expressive life-sized, painted figures in a hierarchy specific to Igbo beliefs and featured deities, especially Ala, the Earth goddess. Despite the slew of spiritually inspired structures in the Mbari, there are a few Mbari that have either overt or covert sexual imagery and references. In fact, it would be hard not to see an explicitly sexual content in a typical Mbari house. My study focuses on the graphic, X-rated sexual themes/figures embedded in these ritual/religious houses. Since Mbari is a spiritual institution, how are we to understand the sexually-themed and erotic images in Mbari houses, especially in the light of traditional Igbo value system in which any open display of sexuality is strongly forbidden? Despite the seeming decline of the Mbari house, what lessons can we learn from the resurgence of Mbari art in modern-day explicit paintings and themes of eroticism, desire, and spirituality? Several erotic Mbari art and modern-day Mbari-inspired erotic paintings were examined in this study. By connecting the old with the new, I offer the fusion of aesthetic privacies, intimate visual publics, and spiritual eroticism as analytical, and somewhat paradoxical, points of inquiry to argue that notions of spirituality, sexuality, and ethical living were/are animated by eroticism. I use these pieces to engage the erotic in a different manner, demonstrating the subtle nuances of art and the erotic. My paper deconstructs the “lewd and embarrassing” art and persuades scholars to rethink expressions of power, erotic knowledge, and spirituality through traditional art in Igboland.