15 Facts About Susanne Wenger

Susanne Wenger MFR, known as Adunni Olorisha, was an Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess who expatriated to Nigeria.

Susanne Wenger's main focus was the Yoruba culture and she was successful in building an artist cooperative in Osogbo.

Susanne Wenger partnered with local artists in Osogbo to redevelop and redecorate the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove with sculptures and carvings depicting the various activities of the Orishas.

Susanne Wenger is the daughter of an English and French high school teacher and a mother born to a high ranking Austro-Hungarian army officer.

Susanne Wenger attended the School of Applied Arts in Graz in 1930, specializing in pottery.

Susanne Wenger 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.

In 1947, Susanne Wenger traveled to Italy, the trip was given to her as a prize for winning a poster competition.

In Nigeria, Susanne Wenger embraced parts of African arts and craft and engaged in batik designs.

Susanne Wenger became attracted to the religion after meeting Ajagemo, a priest of Obatala at Ede.

Susanne Wenger left Ede and moved to Ilobu, before she finally settled at Osogbo in 1961.

Susanne Wenger was initiated into the cults of Obatala, Soponna, and Ogboni, and was later given the chieftaincy title of Adunni Olorisha.

Susanne Wenger was founder of the archaic-modern art school "New Sacred Art", a branch of the wider Oshogbo school, and became the guardian of the Sacred Grove of the Osun goddess on the banks of the Osun River in Oshogbo.

Chief Susanne Wenger lived in a three-storey residence in Osogbo originally leased by her first husband Chief Ulli Beier when he was with the Institute of Mural Studies.

Susanne Wenger continued with the lease after Beier left in 1970, and remained in the house following her divorce from Lasisi.

On 12 January 2009, Susanne Wenger died at the age of 93 in Oshogbo.