Renowned Nigerian master wood carver Kasali Akangbe Ogun has been buried following his death last week after a brief illness.

He came from a long line of wood carvers from the Yoruba people, and took the tradition from his birthplace of Osogbo in the country's south-west to the global art space.

Akangbe Ogun was famous for his unique artistic style, characterised by lean, elongated faces and dynamic, flowing forms, noted Nigerian art patron Olufemi Akinsanya.

He was one of the leading lights of the New Sacred Art Movement, founded by the late Austrian-Nigerian artist and Yoruba priestess, Susanne Wenger, in the 1960s, to help protect the 75-hectare Osun Forest and its river.

We will continue to plant trees because heritage must not be left naked, Akangbe Ogun told me when I visited him in 2020.

The grove, on the outskirts of Osogbo city, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005 for its cultural significance in the cosmology of the Yoruba, and as the largest protected high primary forest in the region.

Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures, and artworks in honor of Osun and other deities.

Works from the New Sacred Art Movement are currently on show in the landmark Nigerian Modernism exhibition at Tate Modern.

Akangbe Ogun was a vital figure within the New Sacred Art Movement, whose work brought spiritual depth to Yoruba devotional practice. His art stands as a testament to a life committed to faith, community, and visual poetry, curator Osei Bonsu stated.

He was known for safeguarding the forest from misuse, and his confrontations with those who sought to fish in the sacred River Osun were well remembered, as such activities were prohibited to preserve the pristine environment.

The river is the focus of the annual Osun Osogbo Festival, one of the biggest tourism draws in Nigeria.

Reflecting on his career, Akangbe Ogun expressed, What pleases me the most is that my children have learned the wood carving art, they have inherited the legacy. The work will live on through my children.

In his tribute, curator and art consultant Moses Ohiomokhare stated: I mourn the loss of this great artist, a master wood carver and an extraordinary person. He left an indelible mark on Yoruba cultural heritage. His art should be remembered by the world.