Green light drips through a tall forest canopy onto cement figures with raised arms, and the Osun River slides by, brown and slow. In the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, shrines by Susanne Wenger and local artists sit in deep shade, and the brightest thing in view is a patch of sky.
Back in town, adire cloth in deep blue hangs outside workshops, and traders crowd the lanes around Oja Oba. The Nike Centre trains young artists in dyeing and beadwork. The climate is tropical savanna, with dry, hazy months from November to March and heavy rain from April to October. A Local Friend knows when the grove is at its quietest and which studio is worth staying in a while longer.
